LAWRENCE CO., Ill.—We were reminded today that this is a sad seven-year anniversary of an event that took place in a rural Lawrence County location.
Sean McQueen
And we thought maybe we could reproduce the articles here in conjunction with that anniversary, to show you that there are just times when matter have to be taken into the hands of those willing to do civil disobedience in order to make a point.
We were roundly castigated by a couple of members of the Lawrence County Board in the days following the release of the August 2007 issue that outlined the situation…and which called the late Sean McQueen a “hero.” We just grinned as we usually do and gave them a “blow it out your ass” look and went on with our business.
When you read these two articles we produced about the matter, you’ll see why.
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LAWRENCE CO.—An old concept of getting the attention of the authorities by a bit of civil disobedience (a la Boston Tea Party) was put into a new form on our own Independence Day (July 4) this year by a locally-raised man who now lives in Newburgh, Ind. And many are hailing the man as a hero, despite the criminality of it, for what he did to raise awareness of the condition of Lawrence County Road 600 East (also known as Applegate Road), after the death of the man’s friend, Alisha Pinkstaff on June 19—a death, the man said, that could have been prevented if the road had been kept in better condition, like other county roads around it.
In protest of death of friend Sean McQueen, 21, allegedly stole a Caterpillar bulldozer from a Moore Brothers construction site near the county road in question on July 4 and tore the road right the hell up. According to those who live in the area, he only made a dent in what was otherwise an almost un-travelable road, anyway.
“The road was in terrible condition and always had water standing in places unless there had been a drought,” said a Lawrence County man from the area. “There were absolute ruts in it from big trucks passing through, and the county was always just mumbling something about how ‘Marathon keeps tearing it up’ and they never bothered to do a thing about it.”
According to the accident reports, Pinkstaff, 19, was traveling the road at about 3:30 on the afternoon of Tuesday, June 19, with the weather in a heavy rain condition. Her car hit water on the road and she hydroplaned, losing control and crashing, which caused her death.
Upset over the death of his friend, McQueen allegedly headed to the spot and, using a bulldozer from a Moore Brothers construction site, began tearing gashes in the road at the site of Pinkstaff’s death. It’s not known at this time how McQueen got the dozer started.
According to those who observed it, some of the rips in the road were as deep as three feet, and the destruction went on for four miles. Road crews were dispatched after the holiday and were repairing the road with gravel (and not asphalt, part of which is what caused the problem in the first place.) The road remained closed for at least another day until crews could get the repairs in place.
Arrested, charged, but made a statement
McQueen was subsequently arrested on July 6 and was charged with knowingly damaging property in the amount of between $10,000-$100,000 (the Moore Brothers’ equipment) and criminal damage to government-supported property in the amount of between $500-$10,000 (the county’s road). Both counts are Class 3 felonies. He posted $10,000 cash bond on July 6, the same day he was arrested. He’s set for a first appearance on Aug. 8 at 8:30 a.m. in front of judge Robert Hopkins.
McQueen hasn’t made any public comments, but acquaintances of his are noting that he seems ‘unapologetic’ for the event, and that his intent was not to cause damage to the equipment, just the road.
“He wanted to make a statement,” said one acquaintance. “He did it. The county should have kept that road up. Yes, Alisha’s death could have been prevented.” This same source indicated that the two-mile stretch of road on which Pinkstaff died has “caused numerous accidents. “But the county voted to spend over a million dollars on the road between Birds and Russellville,” the source said. “I told them that that road was in very good condition already and that the Applegate Road was much more in need of repair. This was when they said ‘Marathon kept tearing it up’ and they weren’t going to bother repairing it.” The source said he wondered if “a few bottles of wine and a few tickets to see the shows at the White Owl Winery (located on the Birds-Russellville Road) didn’t have more influence than the public safety did in this case?
“It took the death of a teenaged girl and the rash behavior of a friend of hers to get anyone to look at this problem.”
A new breed of patriot confronts old problem…
Unfortunately, this kind of problem is “business as usual” in Lawrence County and has permeated life there so completely that people wonder if it will ever change, or if the county will continue to elect corrupt or corruptible officials. The minimal reports given by mainstream media in the area regarding Pinkstaff’s death and McQueen’s efforts to draw attention to it give testimony to the problems plaguing Lawrence: by describing the Applegate Road as being “in poor condition,” Lawrence MSM is making the understatement of the century. McQueen may be emerging as a new breed of patriot who takes matters into his own hands when confronting an ages-old problem: duly elected/appointed, taxpayer-funded public officials who do nothing for their constituency and everything only for themselves, much like the monarchy against what this country fought when it was founded more than 230 years ago.
As an example…
In 2004, a Lawrenceville man whose family was being harassed by local police officials, including harassment of a sexual nature targeting his teenaged daughter, wondered aloud if it wouldn’t be worth it to gather a bunch of ol’ boys together, cammoed up at the river, and make a call for a police officer to come out there. He said when the officer arrived, the plan would be to fire upon him and push the body and the squad into the river—but not before one of the ol’ boys hollering on the radio, “Officer down!” Then, when the rest of the hot-headed cowboys arrived with sirens blaring and lights blazing, the cammo crew would “take them out,” pushing all the squads into the river and disappearing from the scene, taking up their lives as if nothing ever happened.
The idea may be extreme, but when faced with the political and law enforcement type of scum Lawrence is filled with, it sounds mighty appealing. And if such officials continue to push the envelope with their dirty dealings: fake dope busts, aiding sex offenders (especially those who rape young girls), and perpetrating those types of official misconduct themselves, it might not be a great surprise if one lone wolf civilian gets a bellyful and begins a movement that takes down the ‘official’ riff-raff so that they may be replaced by people who care about those they’re charged with ‘serving and protecting.’
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Here’s the second article, in full:
LAWRENCE CO.—The act of civil disobedience perpetrated by young Sean McQueen in July of this year has garnered him a mild sentence of 12 months probation, $1,000 fine and restitution toward the two entities that was far smaller than what the court was originally having everyone believe he was going to be slammed with.
‘Act of vandalism’ = protest/civil disobedience
McQueen, 21 and lately of Newburgh, Ind., was charged in connection with an “act of vandalism” he committed in early July after a friend of his, Alisha Pinkstaff, 19, died June 19 in an auto accident on a poor excuse for a county road (Applegate Road) after heavy rains had made the ordinarily difficult-to-travel road impossible to drive on safely. McQueen, in an act that can only be called civil disobedience in protest of the road conditions, made the Fourth of July something for county board members and road commissioners to remember: he started up some heavy road equipment owned by Moore Brothers that was in the vicinity, and ripped the road to shreds, in some places leaving gouges three feet deep.
He was subsequently charged with Criminal Damage to Government-supported Property in the amount of $500 to $10,000 (the county road), and Knowingly Damaging Property in the amount of $10,000 to $100,000 (Moore Brothers equipment). Amended count, still no fleeing and eluding An amended count of “Knowingly Damaging Property” in an amount greater than $300 was added to McQueen’s charges on Oct. 10, 2007, and he took a guilty plea to that, with the 12 months conditional discharge sentence, along with a $1,000 fine, credit for time served (three days in the county jail) and restitution in the amount of $5,517.10 to the Lawrence County highway department and $447.25 to Moore Brothers (so much for the big whopping amount of damage both entities claimed).
In keeping with the court’s mantra of “fines and fees” in Illinois, McQueen was also ordered to pay $500 to Lawrence County’s useless crimestoppers organization. Contrary to what was originally reported in July, there was no charge on file of Aggravated Fleeing and Eluding a peace officer against McQueen.
Does Masterson know what he’s doing?
Incidentally, information coming in to Disclosure has indicated that when the first officer at the scene of Pinkstaff’s crash, Lawrence chief deputy Trent Masterson, responded to radio traffic on information about the wreck, he indicated that the girl was already deceased at the scene. However, the coroner, Shannon Steffey, has recently been reported as stating that she found a pulse when she arrived several minutes later, and began CPR on the girl. Pinkstaff later died at the hospital.
Suggestions have been made that the family 1) sue the county for not maintaining the road and 2) sue them for having an idiot deputy like Masterson respond and not see that the girl was still alive when seconds count; she may have survived if CPR had been started earlier while Masterson was wasting time calling for the coroner.
It has become common practice in the county to give obits on young people who have died, but to give no “cause of death.” While it is obvious that Alisha Pinkstaff died of injuries sustained in a car crash, there are many, many others whose causes of death have not been so obvious, yet the county coroner and county media simply gloss over these deaths as if they are of natural causes. The public should demand more open investigations of the deaths of these young people, complete with public statements as to the exact causes of death, or more and more information that some day might be vital will be cut off from the taxpayers in Lawrence.
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Rest in peace Sean and Alisha….