THE "REST OF THE STORY"- read on..
FIRST COMES CHARACTER ASSASSINATION -- THE “SIMILARITIES” BETWEEN ME AND SHARON LAPP: Less than a week before the Primary, the newspapers ran a story that revisited the 30 year old murder of a community activist named Sharon Lapp. Along with that news story has come a dramatic increase in the number of messages of care, concern and caution. Several of you have been giving me these sort of messages for about the past two years as I’ve shared facts that have not been kind to the current Administration.
For those of you who don’t know, Sharon Lapp was, as recently described by the News~Sentinel, a “43-year-old homemaker and community activist had been raped and sodomized, had her throat cut and been stabbed several times in the back and side…..At the time of her death Lapp published the Messenger, a newsletter critical of the police and city administration, and kept secret dossiers….. Lapp was investigating suspicions of wrongdoing by officials and had intended to take her evidence to the attorney general's office when she was killed.”
This description has some of you really concerned. I can’t say that I blame you. The similarities between me and Sharon Lapp are chillingly eerie. I am a woman age 42 going on 43. While I don’t publish a newsletter, I do occasionally blog on the Burgess Report and that’s like a newsletter. Some could make the stretch that my facebook page is something of an interactive newsletter. Many, but not all, of my postings on facebook are critical of the current Administration and that criticism, on rare and obvious occasions, has extended to the command staff of FWPD. Making matters more discerning is the fact that the Journal Gazette labeled me as a “homemaker” and “community activist” in 2012. But that’s where the similarities end.
Here are some realities.
I don’t have secret dossiers on people. No offense to anyone, but that would be incredibly time-consuming. I do, on occasion, keep message logs of certain information that I believe may be another piece of a puzzle based on other information I receive. But given the amount of information that everyone sends me every day, I have to --- otherwise I would never be able to remember it all. Sometimes even when I do keep it, I have to be reminded.
If I take something to an outside source, such as the Indiana Attorney General’s office, it is because I have basically been challenged to do so by another agency, such as the Allen County Election Board. Again, it’s a matter of time consumption.
Now, I have said in private message after private message for the past few years that I am not worried about becoming the next “Sharon Lapp” and that neither should you. Here’s why – they have to assassinate my character first before they can murder me otherwise they risk inadvertently creating a martyr. By the way, I don’t say that lightly and I don’t say that because “I’m all that” (‘cause I’m not).
I say that because Sharon Lapp ended up being a rallying point for the community and when you have a community already tiresome of what’s going on, already fed up with the current system of status quos, the last thing you want to do is add a match to gasoline fumes by creating a martyr. Many people---like me or hate me---tend to respect me because I say what needs to be said and I back it up with facts that they can individually authenticate. People aren’t drawn to my facebook page because of me, per say. They are drawn to my facebook page because many of the things I share confirm what Fort Wayne and Allen County residents have always suspected. My information originates from each of you! If something happens to me—you all would simply find another social media outlet that would pick up where I left off. If the motivation to murder me is to stop the flow of information, then those involved in my murder would fail because the flow of that information can’t be stopped.
In far as assassinating my character goes, this is what we are most likely going to see (in no particular order):
• My being wiped from the archives of traditional media sources – erasing the past.
• My being left out of news stories that should involve me – eliminating the present.
• My being referred to in factually-unsubstantiated, but emotionally-charged terms like “crazy” or “evil” – whatever it takes to plant seeds that I am not a stable or a good person. (That comes in handy just in case I am ever incarcerated and end up dead in a holding cell due to suspicious suicide, i.e. Calvin Perry.)
• My being put in a negative but factually-substantiated light—but the negative will be dramatically disproportionate to the reality, which in all likelihood will be a manufactured “fact” masquerading as a true fact. (Like being hauled off in handcuffs while surrounded by the media for an alleged…ALLEGED…violation, like Matt Kelty. Also, note that when being hauled off in handcuffs, where would I go? Yep, a holding cell. See the above.)
• My financial well-being being manipulated so I can’t gain employment or clients -- making sure I have inadequate resources to mount a proper legal defense.
I am sure there will be other ways that my character can be assassinated, but that’s a pretty reasonable and conservative list for now.
The point here is that it’s hard to murder someone who maintains a presence in the public’s eye via social media -- especially when you have to first assassinate their character – and why go to that extent when the motivation would be to stop the flow of information, which cannot be stopped in the digital era due to social media?? See, nothing to worry about.
To which many of you have said, but “Gina---accidents can and do happen.” Yes, that might be true. Accidents can happen, but any accident I am part of will automatically be viewed at with eyes of suspicion by both family, friends, and supporters. I mean you have to look at any such accident as a matter of both timing and context.
So again, there is really no reason to be concerned that I am going to end up dead like Sharon Lapp. As the saying goes, danger is real, but fear is an option. Be not afraid. Instead, be curious!! smile emoticon
For more information on the News~Sentinel’s recent coverage the Sharon Lapp murder, please visit:
2 comments:
These crime victims all had family, who even though they were dirt balls, someone still called them family.
As long as the fort wayne police, and sheriff have a lackadaisical attitude about 9 murders in 3 days, then we are all at risk- as these killers are still loose on the street. all it takes is one wrong look, or a traffic error, or wrong turn-"the wrong place at the wrong time", and you, or me, or anybody could get murdered in a crime rampage by these gangster thugs.
Or even caught in a crossfire.
You know what they call plywood sheets in windows in homes in the hood? ghetto armorplate- stop that slug from killin mama, as she sits waiting for junior to get home from school, work, or play.
ignorant, incompetent,crooked cops.
they have plenty of time, money, and resources to keep our streets cleaned of social drinkers , driving home( dangerous drunker killers driving hurtling weapons of death?)dont they? and harmless stoners. and jay walkers. and skateboard scofflaws, too, dont they? fort wayne city cops are spineless bullies, and DUI NAZIS, and racists. and incompetent.