St. Louis Post-Dispatch Ferguson coverage - August 12

T H E N O . 1 S T. L O U I S W E B S I T E A N D N E W S P A P E R

Tuesday • 08.12.2014 • $1.50

CALLS FOR JUSTICE fbi opens civil rights inquiry into police shooting

MORE UNREST

FAMILY SPEAKS

David Carson • dcarson@post-dispatch.com

A man yells as tear gas is fired Monday night at Lang Drive and West Florissant in Ferguson.

SHOW OF FORCE

J.B. Forbes • jforbes@post-dispatch.com

Michael Brown Sr. and Lesley McSpadden, parents of Michael Brown, speak Monday at a news conference.

David Carson • dcarson@post-dispatch.com

Police line up in riot gear Monday night near the burned out QuikTrip on West Florissant Avenue.

Laurie Skrivan • lskrivan@post-dispatch.com

“He was my second cousin. It’s just so wrong,” says Tony Petty, who holds his granddaughter at a protest Monday in Ferguson over the fatal shooting of Michael Brown.

Police use tear gas to disperse crowds from STAFF REPORTS

FERGUSON • Tension stayed high and raw Monday as the St. Louis region waited for answers in the fatal shooting of an unarmed teenager by a municipal police officer.

In another day of fastmoving events, the FBI promised to investigate the killing of Michael Brown, 18, on Saturday by a Ferguson police officer. Brown’s parents called for an end to the violence while strongly disputing the police version of their

son’s death. More than 1,000 people observed a moment of silence at a meeting called by the NAACP. Throughout the day, protesters continued to face off with police, and as the sun set, lines of police in riot gear fired tear gas to disperse protesters, telling them it was time to go home. By midnight, the situation was quiet.

St. Louis County Police and the FBI promised thorough investigations into the See FERGUSON • Page A8

Two accounts, from police and victim’s friend

Cleanup begins for businesses hit by looters

Family asks witnesses to come forward

Explaining the violence to kids

By Tim Barker tbarker@post-dispatch.com

By Koran Addo kaddo@post-dispatch.com

DELLWOOD • Ferguson-

area businesses grappled Monday with the aftermath of weekend looting that left windows shattered and store shelves empty.

The violence started Sunday evening in response to the fatal police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown.

By the time it ended early Monday, more than two

Michael Brown’s parents on Monday emphatically rejected police accounts of their son’s fatal shooting by an unnamed officer on Saturday, calling on witnesses to step forward with information that would cast doubt on law enforcement’s version of events.

Speaking through their lawyer, Benjamin Crump,

See cleanup • Page A7

See BROWN • Page A7

Civil rights leaders ask for calm PAGES A5-8

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public safety

PHOTOS BY David Carson • dcarson@post-dispatch.com

“Don't shoot us,” people in the crowd call out as they confront police officers arriving to break up a gathering Saturday on Canfield Drive in Ferguson where earlier in the day a Ferguson police officer fatally shot a man, 18, on the street.

SHOOTING

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Officer has been placed on leave; Ferguson police have turned the investigation over to the St. Louis County Police She then said she saw the teen, hands in the air, attempt to flee. Several shots hit Brown as he ran, Crenshaw said. She complied with a request that she give photos of the scene to authorities.

Brown, a 2014 Normandy High School graduate, was scheduled to begin classes at Vatterott College on Monday.

The shooting sparked a furious backlash.

Further shots were heard as police arrived immediately after the shooting but no one was injured as angry residents screamed obscenities mixed with threats to “kill the police.” More than 60 area police officers responded to the scene.

Louis Head, Brown’s stepfather, held a sign that said: “Ferguson police just executed my unarmed son!!!”

Tension flared off and on through the evening. A calm settled over the area after mourners gathered at a prayer circle — watched over by a St. Louis County police officer sitting atop a SWAT vehicle — and then a candlelight vigil as darkness fell.

The acrimony briefly resurfaced about 8:30 p.m. as demonstrators again swarmed the street chanting, “We Are Michael Brown” as wary police officers stood nearby with assault rifles.

At one point, residents held up their hands, saying, “Don’t shoot me!” as police officers with barking dogs tried to keep order.

Approximately 100 protesters then went to the street outside Ferguson police headquarters and chanted, “No Justice!

No Peace!”

McSpadden appeared at the shooting scene sporadically, comforted by friends and neighbors.

“I know they killed my son,” McSpadden was heard telling an acquaintance.

“This was wrong and it was cold-hearted.”

Her son, she continued, “doesn’t kill, steal or rob. He doesn’t do any of that.”

Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson

Police officers with canine help arrive to break up the crowd near the scene of the shooting in Ferguson on Saturday.

said his department immediately turned the matter over to the St. Louis County police.

He declined to comment on what had led to the shooting or any other details.

“We are hoping for calm and for people to give us a chance to conduct a thorough investigation,” Jackson said.

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man promised a “lengthy investigation.”

“We’re still trying to piece together what happened and why,” Schellman said.

The unnamed officer has been placed on paid administrative leave.

The shooting sparked a furor on social media, with commenters expressing outrage over the killing.

As the afternoon wore on, activists, public figures and others arrived on the scene to urge calm.

State Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis, said she would petition the U.S. Justice Department on Monday for a formal investigation.

The St. Louis County NAACP is also asking that the FBI investigate.

Nasheed said she would additionally request that St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch look into what she termed the shooting of an “unarmed citizen.”

Ferguson Mayor James Knowles III said

David Carson, Huy Mach and Denise Hollinshed of the PostDispatch contributed to this report.

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the city was in mourning.

“It’s a tragedy whenever a young person loses his life,” the mayor said as he urged residents to remain calm and “have faith in the process.”

A protest rally is scheduled for Monday morning in front of the Ferguson police station.

County police are to hold a press conference Sunday morning.

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08.12.2014 • Tuesday • M 2 ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH • A7

Ferguson police shooting

worry about city’s revival community’s gradual recovery from recession may have been dealt a setback.

By Jim Gallagher jgallagher@post-dispatch.com 314-340-8390

The town of Ferguson, like much of north St. Louis County, was inching its way back after suffering heavily in the real estate and jobs collapse in the last decade.

Then came the conflagration of Sunday night. Now local residents are wondering if recent signs of economic hope could vanish.

Those signs included a rapidly falling number of home foreclosures in North County. Real estate agents in Ferguson and some nearby towns saw signs that prices were stabilizing, or even rising in some neighborhoods.

Ferguson city government had spruced up its little downtown along Florissant Road. It became a local destination with a wine bar, brew pub and restaurants. Business seemed to be looking up.

The town dangled subsidies in front of new college graduates to get them to buy houses in town, and launched a lending program for home repairs.

“Everyone was very optimistic,” said Carolyn Marty, president of the Greater North County Chamber of Commerce.

On Saturday, Michael Brown, an unarmed teen, was shot to death by a Ferguson police officer. Crowds took to the streets in protest. On Sunday night, looting and arson broke out on West Florissant Avenue, hitting many businesses in neighboring Dellwood, leaving neighbors

and business owners to wonder what comes next.

“I was just devastated. Everybody worked so hard to get North County growing. Everything people were doing for years could be defeated with just one pop of the balloon,” said Carol O’Mara, director of housing in Florissant, Ferguson’s northern neighbor.

Ferguson, population 21,000, is a town of diversity.

“We have century homes — threestory houses on big lots. We have houses for first-time homebuyers, houses for the middle class, to the upper end,” says Rory Schwartz, who has sold Ferguson houses for 30 years.

Much of Ferguson is a picture of pleasant suburbia, with trees lining streets in front of tract houses built during the 1950s and 1960s.

Although it has a mix of housing, Ferguson is mainly a blue-collar town and somewhat poorer than the rest of the region. Median family income was $44,000 in 2012, compared with $75,000 in St. Louis County as a whole and $59,000 for the state of Missouri. The town had a poverty rate of 20 percent, according to the census, compared to 7.8 percent for the county as a whole and 10.7 percent in Missouri.

Like much of North County, Ferguson has also undergone a racial transition, from 52 percent black in 2000 to 66 percent in 2012.

Some worry that TV images of build-

ings burning could have a psychological impact, damaging business and the housing market in Ferguson and surrounding towns. Reggie Bomar, a real estate agent and landlord with property in Ferguson, worries that people may decide to leave.

“If my neighborhood is this explosive, do I get out of here?” he asked.

On the other hand, scenes of looting could fade into memory if future protests are peaceful. “I hope it’s not long-lasting, for Ferguson’s sake,” said Bomar.

Sunday’s disturbance came against a recent history of financial distress that altered neighborhoods in parts of North County. The Great Recession and housing bust hit the area particularly hard, both in jobs and in housing, and Ferguson was no exception.

As of March, the typical house in Ferguson was worth 37 percent less than at its peak in 2007, according to the Zillow housing sales website. The region as a whole was down 15 percent.

Ferguson’s situation is fairly typical for North County. Economist Bill Rogers at the University of Missouri-St. Louis calculates that a house in most of St. Louis County would be worth roughly half as much if moved to the Ferguson-Florissant School District. It would lose roughly 60 percent of its value in the North County school districts of Normandy, Jennings or Riverview Gardens. Those gaps have been widening since the recession six years ago.

More than the rest of the region, North County suffered from a seven-year run of

looters leave mess behind

photos by Laurie Skrivan • lskrivan@post-dispatch.com

“This is ridiculous. It shouldn’t have resulted to this. I am embarrassed for the people who did this. They acted out of anger. Now I don’t have a job, “ said Marcelle Armenta, who surveys damage Monday at Sam’s Meat Market & More, 9241 West Florissant Avenue.

cleanup from A1

dozen businesses in Ferguson and neighboring Dellwood were damaged or looted.

Monday found near bumper-to-bumper traffic up and down the ravaged stretch of West Florissant Avenue, where many businesses — even those untouched by violence — remained closed.

Among those striving to put things in order was Zisser Tire & Auto, where workers spent the day installing plywood over the shattered remains of massive glass panels that once bordered the showroom on three sides.

Owner John Zisser, who hopes to be open again today, said looters nabbed display wheels and tires along with a customer’s car. They would have taken more — after breaking into a warehouse in back — but police showed up in time to stop them, he said.

Zisser, who learned about the break-in while watching TV coverage Sunday night, was left shaken by the events.

“I don’t understand,” Zisser said. “We’ve never had blackwhite issues here in the store.”

A quick survey of the damaged businesses suggests a pattern focused on auto parts suppliers, cellular phone stores, payday loan offices, beauty shops and larger retailers such as Walmart, Family Dollar and Toys R Us. Of course, not every business fit that pattern. Outliers included a Taco Bell, a barbecue restaurant and, oddly, St. Vincent de Paul’s Thrift Store, at 10052 West Florissant Avenue.

Manager Bill Andre arrived early Monday morning to

Carter Hamilton takes a photo Monday of his friend DeAndre Smith of Ferguson at the QuikTrip, 9420 West Florissant Avenue, that was burned by rioters Sunday. “How could they think there would not be a reaction? We are not taking this,” said Hamilton.

find that a brick was used to shatter the store’s front door.

But that was the extent of the damage, with the looters apparently deciding to move on without taking anything.

“You’re curious what their thought process was,” Andre said. “But who wants used clothing when you can take new shoes?”

Andre said the thrift store decided to open for business Monday with a skeleton crew, after a couple of employees expressed worries about working. He planned to close early, concerned that new violence could erupt later in the day.

The southern end of the rioting centered around the QuikTrip at 9420 West Florissant Avenue. The burnedout shell of a convenience store was a focal point for fresh, though quieter, demonstrations Monday. A few dozen protesters were camped out on the graffiti-marred site throughout the day, waving signs and receiving encouragement from passing cars.

QuikTrip spokesman Mike

Thornbrugh said it’s too soon to say what the company will do with that location. “We haven’t even discussed it,” he said.

But he said employees who worked at that store will be offered transfers to other stores in the area.

The company also has temporarily closed another of its stores, farther north on West Florissant.

The largest targets of the mob were found on the northern end of the crime spree, where Walmart and Toys R Us both remained closed Monday.

A Toys R Us spokeswoman said cleanup is underway. “At this time, we do not know when we will be ready to reopen,” Kathleen Waugh said in an email.

A Walmart spokesman also offered no timetable for that store’s return to business, saying the company is still assessing the damage.

“We’re still learning about what happened last night. But it’s safe to say it was significant,” said Brian Nick, of the

chain based in Bentonville, Ark. In the meantime, he said employees would still be working at the store to help get it ready for its reopening.

“The associates will still be doing work. It will just be a different kind of work,” he said.

While most of the damaged stores were located along the West Florissant corridor — stretching just north of I-270 — the looting also extended east hitting the shopping center, anchored by the Home Depot, at New Halls Ferry Road and I-270.

On Monday, it was unclear whether the home improvement store was hit, but several nearby businesses, including Nu Fashion Beauty, Party City and Boost Mobile, were boarded up.

The fact that so many businesses lost windows during the rioting created a small business boom, of sorts, for companies such as AM Richards Glass Co., which had five trucks working the area throughout the day.

“It’s crazy. I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Steve Crandall, whose family owns the company. “It’s not something you’d expect from a small suburb of St. Louis.”

Crandall said it would likely take a month or so before all the riot-ruined windows are replaced. That, he said, is based on his experience in dealing with insurance companies in other instances of large-scale damage — like when intense storms, or tornadoes, come through the area.

“It looks just like a storm blew through here. A storm of people,” he said.

home foreclosures that saw thousands of homeowners become renters and thousands of homes go from occupant-owned to rental property.

But foreclosures are fading fast. Less than 1 percent of Ferguson houses and apartments units were in foreclosure in the first half of this year, down from 5 percent in 2008, according to RealtyTrac.

Fewer cheap foreclosures on the market has given rise to hope that prices may finally start rising again. “We’ve been seeing a little bit of an uptick in Ferguson, Florissant and Hazelwood,” said Rebecca Zoll, who heads North County Incorporated, the regional economic development group.

There are no good estimates of unemployment for suburban towns. But North County maintains a good employment base. Emerson, a global manufacturer on the Fortune 500 list, is based in Ferguson.

Boeing, Express Scripts, the University of Missouri-St. Louis and Mallinckrodt are among big employers producing a $7 billion annual payroll in North County, according to a University of Missouri analysis. Still, the number of jobs has declined.

Ferguson’s municipal government fought back with redevelopment programs.

“Over the past few years, they’ve done remarkably well,” Zoll said. “They had lots of new restaurants that opened and housing above the restaurants. Lots of businesses are doing very well in Ferguson right now.”

BROWN

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the family said the 18-year-old, whom teachers described as a “gentle giant,” didn’t have the personality to try and wrestle away an officer’s gun, as police have said.

This family “expects and demands and will not sleep until they get the truth,” Crump said during a Monday news conference at Jennings Mason Temple.

“If you are a witness to what happened, don’t be intimidated, come forward,” Crump said. “People from the U.S. Department of Justice will take statements without any intimidation or fear of retribution.”

Crump wouldn’t say what the family believed happened, but said witness accounts relayed to them have cast serious doubt on what police are describing.

“We think it’ll be very clear when this is over,” the civil rights lawyer said. Crump is known for representing the family of Florida shooting victim Trayvon Martin.

Brown’s parents also used the event to request that all demonstrations done in their son’s honor be nonviolent. The plea came less than 24 hours after a night of unrest.

“He was a good boy. He didn’t deserve none of this,” Michael Brown Sr., said.

“We want justice for our son.”

“With no violence,” the teen’s mother, Lesley McSpadden, added.

She later noted that her son was scheduled to start college this week.

“We can’t even celebrate him going to college,” she said. “Now we’ve got to plan his funeral.”

The mood at Monday’s news conference ranged from fiery to somber, on the second day since the shooting.

Authorities have maintained that a police officer shot Brown, who was unarmed, after the teen attacked the Ferguson officer. Witnesses have said the officer fired multiple shots at Brown while the teen had his hands in the air.

Monday’s news conference was supposed to be a chance for Brown’s parents to speak publicly. His mother, however, was overcome with tears as she held a photo of her child and was unable to speak more than a few words at a time.

Brown’s father, was also visibly shaken throughout the afternoon.

Crump, the lawyer, did most of the talking, calling Brown’s killing an execution, and making reference to other young black men from around the country that have been killed by police.

After the news conference, Brown’s mother made her way outside the church, where she was consoled by family, requesting that reporters and onlookers give her time to grieve.

Crump, however, pressed her to come back inside the church for an interview with a cable news station.

Funeral details for Brown have not been released.

J.B. Forbes • jforbes@post-dispatch.com

Michael Brown Sr. and Lesley McSpadden, parents of Michael Brown, said at a news conference Monday at the Jennings Mason Temple Church of God in Christ they want justice for their son.

A8 • ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

M 2 • Tuesday • 08.12.2014

Ferguson police shooting

open inquiry is promised

Chris Lee • clee@post-dispatch.com

Miah White of Florissant (center, with purse) leads the singing of “Break Every Chain” during an impromptu rally Monday of the overflow crowd on the front steps of the Murchison Tabernacle CME Church. Inside, more than 1,000 people observed a moment of silence at a meeting called by the NAACP.

FERGUSON shooting of Brown outside an apartment complex in the 2900 block of Canfield Drive. The address is just east of a stretch of West Florissant Avenue, in the eastern corner of Ferguson, that was the focus of violence and looting Sunday night after a day of peaceful protest.

Police fired the tear gas into an increasingly unruly crowd that had reformed near the QuikTrip at 9240 West Florissant Avenue, looted and torched Sunday. The gutted store was ground zero for protests all day Monday.

Police, backed by a SWAT armored car, blocked both West Florissant and the entry to Canfield Drive, scene of the killing on Saturday afternoon that touched off the protests and violence. All but a few protesters had retreated from the scene by 9 p.m., and police held their positions in the streets.

Two miles to the south, an overflow crowd observed a moment of silence at Murchison Tabernacle CME Church, 7629 Natural Bridge Road in Normandy. Cornell Brooks, the new national president of the NAACP, pleaded for calm as the community responds to the “unfolding drama.”

“Martin Luther King did not live and die so that we might steal in the name of justice in the middle of the night,” said Brooks, who flew to St. Louis for the gathering, sponsored by the organization’s St. Louis County branch. The shooting and rioting have drawn international attention.

Damage from Sunday night and early Monday was most extensive on West Florissant, but it also jumped two miles north to commercial areas near Interstate 270, where a Walmart was among retailers hit.

Seven miles south of the scene, several retailers in Brentwood closed their doors early Monday evening. “We didn’t want to take any chances,” said a security guard at the Brentwood Promenade. The Galleria mall also closed early after a few girls got into a fight. Authorities said the fight was not related to Ferguson.

Protests formed and reformed all day Monday outside the gutted QuikTrip. Marchers chanted and held up their hands in a mock sign of surrender as police hovered nearby. West Florissant was crowded with horn-honking gawkers in cars.

Earlier in the day, protesters gathered outside the Ferguson police station, 222 South Florissant Road, to the west of West Florissant. More than 150 people took part, also holding up their hands and shouting, “Hands up, don’t shoot,” and “No justice, no peace.”

At the scene of the shooting, where a growing pile of teddy bears marked the spot, a man in a white T-shirt fired a handgun Monday afternoon. Police did not respond to the scene.

Brown’s father, Michael Brown Sr., 36, was surveying the mound of bears when the shots were

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fired.

“I just need justice for my son, get this case solved. I need everybody to come together to get this done,” he said.

At 5 p.m., honking and yelling continued outside the QuikTrip.

“It feels like I am at a historical moment,” said Armaon Simmons, 17, of the Normandy area. “Black people are coming together. We aren’t killing each other; we are working as one.”

But Zackery Keys, an AfricanAmerican and union carpenter from St. Louis County, saw it differently. “This is a disturbed group of young people,” said Keys, 58, from a safe distance.

“This is nothing to be proud of.

Who wants to be part of chaos? ... Probably 95 percent of these people don’t even vote.”

Police said they made no more than 10 arrests Monday, mostly for peace disturbance. In contrast, there were 32 arrests Sunday, leading Monday to charges against 10 suspects. St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert P. McCulloch said the 10 were all “well-known” to investigators.

Police officials and political leaders appealed for calm. St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley announced the FBI involvement during a news conference in Clayton. The St. Louis County NAACP branch and numerous elected officials had called for the FBI to step in.

Dooley promised the process would be open but not quick.

“We’re asking all the public to be calm, be patient,” Dooley said.

St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said the FBI “will take a lot of the information we have developed already through our investigation. They will take that investigation, and they may do their own interviews and take a look at the evidence themselves.”

“We will share our information with Prosecutor McCulloch’s office and at the same time with the FBI,” Belmar said.

Belmar said Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson contacted him Saturday even before he got to the scene of the shooting.

“This is a complex investigation, as it should be,” Belmar added.

“We need to make sure everything’s done right.”

He said investigators still need to talk to scores of people at the apartment complex.

“I understand the public has a right to be skeptical,” Belmar said. “But I would also ask the public to be reasonable.”

Police did not release the name or race of the police officer, who was put on leave. Belmar said Sunday the officer had an encounter with two people and that Brown pushed the officer inside his police vehicle. Belmar said one shot was fired in the car. He said the officer fired multiple shots at Brown, who was away from the car, killing him.

Family members and some witnesses disputed the police account. They say Brown had his hands up in surrender when he was shot.

In Washington, U.S. Attorney

Robert Cohen • rcohen@post-dispatch.com

Police officers arrest a man Monday who refused to leave when police in riot gear cleared the area of South Florissant Road and Church Street in downtown Ferguson.

Robert Cohen • rcohen@post-dispatch.com

St. Louis County Police tactical officers fire tear gas Monday on a crowd along West Florissant Road in Ferguson.

Robert Cohen • rcohen@post-dispatch.com

“All of my friends have been killed. I’m sick of it,” yelled protester Jamell Spann at police officers in riot gear who were clearing demonstrators Monday at the Ferguson police station.

General Eric Holder said the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division will take part in what he called a “concurrent federal inquiry.”

“The federal investigation will supplement, rather than supplant, the inquiry by local authorities,” Holder said. “At every step, we will work with the local investigators, who should be prepared to complete a thorough, fair investigation in their own right.”

The county NAACP and the African-American Mound City Bar Association released a joint statement urging witnesses to come forward. The statement said it was “clear that there were many witnesses who had not yet been interviewed by police in-

vestigators.”

They promised to provide free legal counsel to witnesses who come forward.

A spokesman for the Rev. Al Sharpton, of the National Action Network, said he would visit Ferguson today to meet with the victim’s family and community leaders, and hold a news conference. At 7 p.m. today, the Rev. Traci D. Blackmon will host a forum at Christ the King United Church of Christ, 11370 Old Halls Ferry Road, where Ferguson Mayor James Knowles III and Police Chief Jackson were expected to be on hand to answer questions.

On West Florissant Monday, shopkeepers and employees swept debris and boarded

up windows, raising sheets of plywood from trucks parked throughout the area. Not all the windows had been smashed — businesses were guarding against another round of violence.

A spokesperson for QuikTrip said employees of the burned store were transferred to other locations, and that the company hadn’t decided whether to rebuild. A Walmart spokesman said it would keep its Ferguson store closed for now.

The Ferguson-Florissant School District canceled meetings scheduled for Monday evening at eight elementary schools that would have allowed parents and students to meet teachers and visit classrooms. School is to begin Thursday.

“We are heartbroken by the tragic events of recent days in and around the City of Ferguson,” administrators wrote on the district website. “We are planning to receive and support our students when school begins this Thursday, and we look forward to working closely with our community to heal and rebuild.”

The Jennings School District, just east of the apartments on Canfield, canceled the first day of school Monday. “Safety is our uppermost concern,” according to a district news release. “At this time we do not feel it’s safe for our students to walk to school.”

Classes were scheduled to begin today, according to the district website.

At the QuikTrip, one man who claimed to have taken part late Sunday sought to justify the violence. But other citizens dropped by to decry the mayhem and to urge businesses to continue serving the area.

Leonette Hilliard, a middle school English teacher, wrote a note to the store and taped it onto the side wall saying, “Corporate neighbor: I am sorry this act of robbery and violence has happened. Please return soon.”

She taped it across graffiti saying “187 county police,” the 187 being a slang reference to murder. Hilliard said she comes to the store to two or three times a week and has been doing so for about 15 years.

“This just doesn’t represent who we are as a community and I wanted just to say something to do something that was productive,” she said.

Belmar said Monday that officers originally were deployed the night before so protesters had an “opportunity to vent, but at some point we could no longer sustain that attitude.” He said they moved to police cars to become more mobile as departments received numerous calls for shots fired, vandalism, burglary and assault.

“It was a miracle, however, that nobody actually got shot (Sunday) night,” Belmar said. “I was expecting the worst. You can never tell, when you’re in an environment like this.”

Tim Barker, Kim Bell, Jesse Bogan, Jessica Bock, Tim Bryant, Nancy Cambria, Stephen Deere, Lilly Fowler, Steve Giegerich, Valerie Schremp Hahn, Paul Hampel, Jeremy Kohler, Tim O’Neil and Nicholas Pistor, all of the PostDispatch, contributed to this report.

A L E E E N T E R P R I S E S N E W S PA P E R • F O U N D E D BY J O S E P H P U L I T Z E R D E C . 1 2 , 1 8 7 8

TUESDAY • 08.12.2014 • A12

Walgreen stays home Our view • Corporate tax avoidance scam loses a customer.

ROBERT COHEN • rcohen@post-dispatch.com

A prayer vigil was held in front of the Ferguson police department on Sunday.

Get it right in Ferguson

Our view • Communications failures made a bad situation worse.

St. Louis County Executive Charlie A. Dooley Sunday in the wake of shooting cannot be excused. To say that burning and looting is and county Police Chief Jon Belmar were somehow the proper response to a young absolutely correct on Monday to ask the man’s death is to trivialize that death.

FBI to help investigate the fatal shooting The advent of social media enabled peoSaturday of 18-year-old Michael Brown by a ple from thousands of miles away to weigh Ferguson police officer. in on the events in Ferguson this weekend.

This process won’t be quick, nor will it The killing of an unarmed black kid by a satisfy the understandable anger of those in cop, followed by looting and civil unrest, is a Ferguson’s African-American community great opportunity for facile or inflammatory who are enraged by Mr. Brown’s killing. commentary.

But getting it right is more important than It does no disservice to the Ferguson and getting it fast. As we’ve seen since Saturday county police departments to say they were afternoon, getting it fast often means getoverwhelmed by the fast-breaking events. ting it wrong.

At midday Monday, the only thing known In a highly charged atmosphere, with random gunshots and flying rocks, officers in for sure was that Mr. Brown was unarmed riot gear generally reacted professionally. and that he was shot multiple times as he But Ferguson officials and county police was attempting to flee an encounter with did a poor job of disseminating informaan as-yet-unidentified police officer. That tion. Rumor filled the gaps. The city and much alone is profoundly disturbing. county police train for Were he and a commass casualty events; panion merely stopped if getting ahead of the for walking in the middle information environof the street in the 2900 ment isn’t a priority, it block of Canfield Drive should be. In the county, near West Florissant with its five dozen law Avenue? Was the police enforcement jurisdicofficer shoved into his tions, some of which patrol car? Was there a struggle for the officer’s ASSOCIATED PRESS are barely competent, information flow is weapon? Was there a St. Louis County Police Chief Jon uneven at best. gunshot in the car? This Belmar (left) and Ferguson Police One lesson from this is the account offered by Chief Thomas Jackson. weekend is that the both the Ferguson and county must move quickly to centralize St. Louis County police departments, but command and control for major emergeneyewitness accounts differ. cies. Fast, accurate information is part of Patience, in the face of what looks like that. It’s harder now than ever before to do a grievous injustice, is hard. But let’s get it that, but even more critical. right.

What happened Saturday night into

Even if he weren’t running for reelection in November, the Walgreen Co.’s flirtation with a tax-friendly Swiss headquarters would have been a fat pitch for Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin.

Happily for Mr. Durbin, Walgreen’s timing couldn’t have been better. As part of its plan to acquire the 55 percent of Swiss-based drugstore chain Alliance Boots that it doesn’t already own, Deerfield, Ill.-based Walgreen was considering one of the infamous “inversions” that have become increasingly popular in corporate America.

In an inversion, a U.S. company buys a smaller company in a nation where the corporate tax rate is lower than the putative 35 percent U.S. rate. The headquarters for the merged entity is established overseas, allowing the U.S. company to lower its worldwide tax bill.

Some 41 firms have established overseas tax domiciles since 1982, 12 of them in 2012 alone. Eight more are considering it. Most of them book most of their profits on intellectual property, like drug patents. Walgreen, however, runs 8,116 highly visible retail stores, making them vulnerable to consumer backlash.

Last month, Mr. Durbin began waving the Stars and Stripes at Walgreen, writing in a letter to the company CEO that, “I believe you will find that your customers are deeply patriotic and will not support Walgreen’s decision to turn its back on the United States.

Nearly all of your $2.5 billion in profits earned last year were from sales to U.S. taxpaying customers.”

Mr. Durbin also reminded the firm of a truth that lots of corporate executives like to forget: They benefit hugely from U.S. taxes. In Walgreen’s case, 25 percent of its profits came from taxpayersupported Medicare and Medicaid programs.

In addition, he pointed out that “Walgreen’s uses taxpayer-supported transportation infrastructure to stock its stores and deliver its products. Your company benefits from our country’s investment climate and educated workforce, and you and your fellow executives have benefited from tax breaks on compensation packages. If you and Walgreen’s board of directors decide to invert to avoid U.S taxes, you will be turning your backs on the very people that have allowed Walgreen’s to thrive and prosper.”

With a dig at Walgreen’s advertising slogan, Mr. Durbin added, “Is ‘the corner of happy and healthy’ somewhere in the Swiss Alps?”

Last Wednesday, Walgreen announced that the headquarters of the new holding company, Walgreen’s

Boots Alliance, would be in Illinois.

Moving to Switzerland, the firm said, would not be in the long-term best interests of shareholders. Short term, shareholders immediately began dumping the stock, which closed down 14 percent. So much for Wall Street patriotism.

Even better for Mr. Durbin, his Republican opponent in the November election, state Sen. and dairy executive Jim Oberweis of Sugar Grove, immediately accused him of “bullying” Walgreen. Mr. Oberweis did not specifically endorse tax-dodging, a fine point that may be lost during the fall campaign.

In fact, the United States does have the highest corporate tax rate among developed nations. Also in fact, almost no corporation pays the full 35 percent.

More than 90 percent of all U.S. corporations are so-called “pass-through” entities where business income is treated and taxed as personal income.

Large public corporations can take advantage of any number of loopholes, deductions and tax havens; the Government Accountability Office reported last year that the average effective corporate tax rate was 12.6 percent, lower than many middle- and upper-class families pay.

Democrats and Republicans in Congress generally agree that the tax code needs reform, but as with so many other things, can’t agree on how to do it. Everyone wants a lower tax rate, but no industry wants to give up its bought-and-paid-for tax loopholes.

President Barack Obama has proposed lowering the corporate rate to 28 percent while trimming some of the special exemptions. Mr. Obama also wants Congress to limit the corporate inversion scam. He said this month: “We don’t want companies who have up until now been playing by the rules suddenly looking over their shoulder and saying, ‘You know what, some of our competitors are gaming the system and we need to do it, too.’”

If Congress doesn’t act — and these days, that’s a given — the Treasury Department could take steps on its own to make the deals more difficult.

Too many multinationals have found ways to book U.S. earnings as foreign profits, stashing them overseas as part of the $2 trillion in overseas profits that can’t be taxed until they’re repatriated.

All of this means that the average U.S. taxpayer has to make up the difference, or critical needs go unfunded.

What’s good for Wall Street often is not good for Main Street. Given the differences between Mr. Durbin and Mr. Oberweis on this issue, this debate could get a useful airing in Illinois this fall.

YOUR VIEWS • LETTERS FROM OUR READERS Slay should apologize for supporting Amendment 1 Mayor Francis Slay’s chief of staff says, “It’s a little irritating to be lectured about animal rights” after the mayor made robocalls telling St. Louis residents to vote for the anti-animal Amendment 1 (“Activists criticize mayor’s support of farm amendment,” Aug. 8). What’s a little irritating is Slay’s hypocrisy on this issue. Slay supported Prop B, the 2010 ballot initiative that regulated puppy mills, and repeatedly told us that he cares about animal welfare.

We voted to keep him in office because we thought he was good to his word.

But on Amendment 1, Slay betrayed his constituents. He acted neutral on the amendment, until at the 11th hour he made robocalls telling voters to vote for it. When called out on his flip-flop, Slay’s chief of staff said Slay supported the amendment because it is “innocuous.” But if Amendment 1 is innocuous, why did corporate agriculture groups pay for Slay to robocall us all with a desperate plea to amend the state constitution?

The truth is that Amendment 1 is far from innocuous. It’s designed to roll back the very protections against puppy mills that Slay said he supports. And it will make it far harder for St. Louis to become a no-kill city, as unregu-

lated puppy mills flood the city with more dogs.

Of course we could have debated all this if Slay had publicly announced his position in advance. Thankfully Mayor Slay’s constituents were too smart to fall for his deceptive message. Despite his robocall, fully 73 percent of St. Louis voters voted no on Amendment 1 last week — and I was one of them. Mayor Slay owes all of us — and every animal in Missouri who will be harmed by Amendment 1’s narrow passage — an apology.

Wendi Neckameyer • St. Louis

Missouri should keep welcoming visitors by forgoing toll roads When traveling across America, I have always found it laughable that when you cross the border into a state, you get a giant “(State) Welcomes You” sign, but then you get treated to raucous-sounding rumble strips, bringing your adventure in this new state to a dead halt so that you can pay a toll.

Missouri does not do this, and is therefore a truly welcoming state. But I blanched when I read in your post-election story about Amendment 7 (“No direction after defeat,” Aug. 7) that toll roads are now on the table. We have resisted toll roads for this long; I think we need to go with it at this

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point, get publicity for it, and find some alternate means of paying for roads.

I could see a Missouri Department of Tourism campaign, “At the Crossroads of America … and Zero Tolls.” License plates that say “The No-Toll Road State.” Perhaps the increased tourism would flow back through to help pay for the roads.

Emmett McAuliffe • Affton

Access to electricity will improve public health systems in Africa I was grateful to see Michael Gerson, a former policy adviser and speechwriter for President George W. Bush, commend President Obama for his Power Africa initiative (“Bet on Africa rising,” Aug. 7). I believe the country wants to see more of this kind of bipartisan collegiality rather than the current I-hate-it-because-the-otherparty-supports-it mentality.

The legislative component of Power Africa enjoys strong bipartisan support as well. The House of Representatives passed the Electrify Africa Act with a broad base of Democratic and Republican co-sponsors. The companion bill in the Senate titled Energize Africa also enjoys bipartisan support and was recently approved by the Senate Foreign Relations committee, but is currently

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languishing because of the August recess.

Access to electricity will improve public health systems in Africa, in part, by improving record-keeping and community education efforts, which may directly impact the current Ebola crisis. This is fast becoming a global health threat and has ramifications for both Africans and Americans alike. Energy access will also improve education and business development in Africa which, as Mr. Gerson points out, will shift the United States away from simply responding to emergency situations like famines and focusing instead on sustainable development in Africa. This new direction in foreign assistance will provide the infrastructure needed to assist impoverished people to lift themselves out of extreme poverty.

Debbie Cole • St. Louis County

Monarch fire district politics at its best Jane Cunningham doesn’t like firefighters being asked to give to a political action committee (“The calamity is the firefighters union vs. the taxpayers,” Aug. 2).

The donations are strictly voluntary; nobody is forced or demanded to give to the unionendorsed candidate. The unionbacked directors are not owned

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by the union. They are citizens of their particular district who want to serve. They have their own opinions and do what’s best for the district and the community where they live.

It’s a little confusing how Cunningham won her position on the board given her statement: “Citizens who just want to serve cannot compete with that kind of machine.”

Let me get this straight. Cunningham can get donations from two lawyers for an election campaign for herself and the board president (the same two lawyers who received $230,000 in legal fees from your district). I guess that’s just good business. Now giving a donation from a firefighter to a political action committee is somehow reprehensible?

Cunningham’s bias against the union firefighters in the district is very apparent.

Cunningham even seemingly condemns them for making good money, implying that with only a high school degree they make too much money. I suppose 1 ½ to 2 years to train as a paramedic doesn’t count. Not to mention the continuous training throughout their career, since the fire district responds to calls including hazardous material, trench rescue and car extrications.

Michael Foley • Weldon Spring

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