Page 8A
FAITH
East Oregonian
Church shooting trial and after
Dylann Roof found guilty of
killing nine black parishioners;
death penalty on the table
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) —
Dylann Roof was convicted Thursday
of last year’s grisly massacre at a
historic black church that left nine
parishioners slain at a Bible study. A
federal jury found Roof guilty of all
33 counts, including hate crimes and
obstruction of religion. Jurors took
less than two hours to reach their
verdict.
Here’s what has happened and what
to expect.
Life or death
After a break for the holidays, jurors
will reconvene Jan. 3 to hear more
testimony and decide whether Roof gets
the death penalty or life in prison for the
June 2015 slaughter at Emanuel African
Methodist Episcopal Church.
The defense put up no witnesses
during the seven-day trial. They tried to
present evidence about Roof’s mental
state, but U.S. District Judge Richard
Gergel ruled that had nothing to do with
Roof’s guilt or innocence.
Roof told the judge again Thursday
he wants to act as his own attorney
during the penalty phase.
Roof’s hatred
Prosecutors say Roof wanted to start
a race war. His two-hour confession to
the FBI, about 17 hours after the shoot-
ings, seemed key to jurors’ deliberation.
One hour in, they asked to rehear the
videotaped confession.
Roof also documented his hate in his
journal, found in his car when he was
arrested.
Roof believed segregation needed
to return to keep white people from
falling to the level of blacks. It had other
bogus claims that whites were naturally
the superior race and that blacks liked
slavery.
Testimony in the case opened and
closed with two of the massacre’s
survivors.
Polly Sheppard said Roof told her
he wanted to leave her alive to tell the
world why he attacked a historic Afri-
can-American church.
“I have to. I have to,” Sheppard
recalled Roof telling her. “You’re raping
our women and taking over the nation.”
Her 911 call was the final evidence
jurors heard.
Community
Faith Center Church
Worshiping God
Loving People
108 S. Main • 276-9569
Sunday Worship
10:30 am
Sr. Pastor,
Ray O’Grady
Michael Pronzato/The Post And Courier via AP
A man walks past flowers and a wreath at a door of Emanuel A.M.E. Church
on Thursday. Dylann Roof was convicted Thursday in the slaughter of nine
black church members who had welcomed him to their Bible study.
Final arguments
In closing arguments, Assistant U.S.
Attorney Nathan Williams mocked Roof
for calling himself brave in his hate-
filled journal and during his confession.
Williams said the real bravery came
from the victims who tried to stop him
as he fired 77 bullets.
His 50-minute closing argument
filled the court with tension. At times,
the prosecutor raised his voice, saying
Roof was a cold, calculated killer. Some
family members of victims dabbed their
eyes with tissues, and jurors appeared
emotional when Williams, after apol-
ogizing to them, showed crime scene
photos of each person killed alongside a
small picture of them while alive.
Defense lawyer David Bruck
conceded Roof committed the slayings,
but he asked jurors to look into his head
and see what caused him to become
so full of hatred, calling him a suicidal
loner who never grasped the gravity of
what he did.
Roof was just imitating what he saw
on the internet and believed he had
to give his life to “a fight to the death
between white people and black people
that only he” could see and act on,
Bruck said.
Emotional trial
The trial opened with testimony
from Felicia Sanders, one of the three
survivors, telling the jury she swished
her legs in the blood of her dead aunt
and dying son so Roof would think she
was dead.
Sanders’ 11-year-old granddaughter
also survived. Sanders said she held the
girl so tight so she wouldn’t scream that
she thought she might suffocate her.
“He said he was going to kill
himself,” Sanders said. “I was counting
on that. There’s no place on Earth for
him other than the pit of hell.”
Testimony from survivor Polly
Sheppard closed the prosecution’s case.
Sheppard called 911 shortly after Roof
opened fire. The heart-wrenching call
was played for jurors. It started with
a prayer and a plea for help: “Please
answer. Oh, God.”
Meanwhile, Roof’s mother was in
the audience for opening statements.
She collapsed as court adjourned for
a break, and defense lawyers said she
suffered a heart attack.
Another trial next year
Roof faces a second death-penalty
trial early next year in state court,
where he faces nine counts of murder.
A state judge is ordering 600 prospec-
tive jurors to report to the Charleston
County Courthouse on Jan. 17 for initial
screening. His order says the trial will
begin on or after Jan. 30. It’s not clear
when the federal case will wrap up. For
now, Roof has attorneys representing
him in the state case.
BOARDMAN’S LIMEY PASTOR
Islamic State turned Mosul
Above the snowline into city of terror, darkness
Y
Friday, December 16, 2016
ou may have read about the pastor in a
mall in Texas waiting to tell children in
line to see Santa Claus that Santa did not
exist. This is a pastor who has no decency, I’m
afraid. Faith in things unseen is
a mark of a Christian, and all of
us know that LOVE (in capitals)
does exist and we know it when
we see it or even when we do
not see it. Santa Claus is a saint
dressed in red, symbolizing
burning passion for the little
ones’ happiness. His only body
Colin
is our common body, as we each
Brown
sometimes become him for a
Faith
while.
I can also vouch personally.
There is a real embodied Santa Claus! I met
Santa Claus about a decade and a few months
ago, in Alaska. His name was Joseph Davis, at
the time. Maybe there is another one now in the
same place.
I met Joe in Anchorage when I was giving a
talk there and he told me of his side job. For a
number of years Joe had the job of helping gather
toys with the Marines for the children’s benefit
in Alaska. Once he gathered the toys with the
Marines he then had put on his Santa suit, loaded
a sleigh with toys and had delivered the toys to
the village of “North Pole” — which, I guess,
would make him an official Santa. How could he
not be the Number One Santa?
There are many Santas in the world, some
secret Santas, some in suits who keep their own
counsel, as well as those clothed in the flashy red
elf suits. With sleighs and reindeer, with vans
and airplanes, there are Santas who run around in
hospitals as well as trudge knee-deep in snow in
villages in deep winter in arctic night.
I often think how we should have a public
office in each state that we could elect a Santa to
serve for a year, and be an ombudsperson for the
children. They would have the power to make
state agencies act in the best interest of children
and have very strong powers of arrest for those
who abuse children. They would have a budget
for children who have no special things to receive
the toys they do not have: bears, bunnies, Star
Wars characters, etc.
I remember meeting one young lady who had
been abused in each of the foster families she had
been in, and only escaped on her emancipation.
When she went into an abusive adult relationship
her children were taken from her. This is a
darkness that can be alleviated by those who care,
rather than by those who see things made of the
darkness. God is just one human heart away from
freeing sad children.
The snow has been falling this week, and
while we think of Jesus’ arrival as a child abused
by others around him, uncaring innkeepers, etc.,
let us ask that we be given a mantle of Santa
Claus ourselves that we can reach out to the
children in darkness, in land without sun, where
we can gather a harvest of happiness for just one
child if we can.
The kingdom is built one human heart at a
time. Be a Santa!
■
Colin Brown is the pastor of Boardman’s Good
Shepherd Lutheran Church on Locust Road.
By LORI HINNANT
Associated Press
MOSUL, Iraq — She survived
the first stone that struck her, then
the second.
One of the Islamic State
group’s fighters bent down and
pressed his fingers to the side of
her neck to check her pulse.
As her horrified neighbors
watched, extremists threw a third
stone at the young woman, who
was accused of adultery. That one
killed her.
It was, for those who
witnessed it, the cruelest moment
in Mosul’s descent into fear,
hunger and isolation under 2
½ years of IS rule. Before the
militants’ takeover, Iraq’s second-
largest city was arguably the
most multicultural place in the
country, with a Sunni Muslim
Arab majority but also thriving
communities of Kurds, Shiites,
Christians and Yazidis. Together,
they had created Mosul’s distinct
identity, with its own cuisine,
intellectual life and economy.
But the Islamic State group
turned Mosul into a place of
literal and spiritual darkness.
It began with promises of
order and of a religious utopia
that appealed to some. But over
time, the militants turned crueler,
the economy crumbled under the
weight of war and shortages set
in. Those who resisted watched
neighbors who joined IS turn
prosperous and vindictive. Parents
feared for the brainwashing of
their children. By the end, as Iraqi
troops besieged Mosul, the mili-
tants hanged suspected spies from
lampposts, and residents were cut
off from the world.
The woman’s killing in
Mosul’s Samah district shook to
the core those in the crowd who
were forced to watch.
Several witnesses described
to The Associated Press how the
woman and her alleged lover were
paraded blindfolded through the
streets. The militants summoned
everyone they could find to
watch. It was in August, after
the militants had lost strongholds
in other parts of Iraq and Syria,
prompting them to heighten their
repression.
“‘Still not dead,”’ Samira
Hamid recalled the militant
pronouncing after he checked
the woman’s pulse, before the
lethal blow to her head. The man
accused of being her lover was
flogged 150 times and forced to
go to Syria to fight in IS ranks.
Another witness, Sarmad
Raad, found recalling the killing
nearly unbearable.
“I shut down,” the 26-year-old
said, “I just lost my mind.”
The AP interviewed dozens
of residents who have left Mosul
since Iraqi troops began retaking
outlying districts last month.
They described life in a city that
has been virtually sealed off from
the outside under the rule of the
Islamic State group. They spoke
from Mosul’s edges and from
the refugee camps that are their
homes for the foreseeable future,
even as smoke rose and artillery
boomed from nearby front lines.
For many among Mosul’s
Sunni Arabs, rule by the Sunni
militants of IS initially seemed
a respite from what they consid-
ered the heavy hand of Iraq’s
Shiite-led central government in
Baghdad.
As Iraqi soldiers vanished
in those first few weeks, people
were simply happy to see hated
security checkpoints pulled down
and traffic moving smoothly
along streets lined with low, pale
buildings. Sunni insurgents have
long been active in Mosul, and
Baghdad’s clampdowns against
them usually only fueled resi-
dents’ distrust.
But even as families strolled in
the parks and shops stayed open,
signs emerged that this group of
fighters was unlike past insur-
gents who had worked strictly
underground. They were staying
put: Trucks began hauling office
furniture to various government
buildings, according to a blog
called “Mosul Eye,” written by a
resident who took on the role of
city historian.
Several weeks later, the group
declared its “caliphate” stretching
across its territory in Syria and
Iraq.
Within a month, the homes of
Christians and other minorities
were tagged with official stickers
— for “statistical purposes,” IS
officials said, according to Mosul
Eye. Christians and Shiites soon
fled, leaving their marked homes
and belongings behind.
Kurds were soon targeted as
well.
“If you turned in a Kurdish
family, they gave you a car,” said
Hassan Ali Mustapha, a retired
prison guard. He said he moved
into a home deserted by a Kurdish
family, after the family asked him
through a mutual friend to do so
to keep Islamic State from taking
it over.
pendletonfaithcenter.org
Community
Presbyterian Church
14 Martin Drive,
Umatilla, OR
922-3250
Worship: 10 AM
Sunday School at 11:30
Seventh-Day
Adventist
Church
Saturday Services
Pendleton
1401 SW Goodwin Place
276-0882
Sabbath School 9:20 am
Worship Service 10:45 am
Grace Baptist Church
585 SW Birch,
Pilot Rock, OR 97868
(541) 443-2500
prbconline.blogspot.com
Sunday School: 9:30 am
Worship Service: 10:45 am
Kids’ Club: 6:00 pm
Wednesday Services:
Youth Group: 7:00 pm
OPEN HEARTS – OPEN DOOR
www.graceandmercylutheran.org
Sunday Worship 8:45 a.m.
Sunday School 10:00 a.m.
(Nursery Provided)
Fellowship, Refreshments & Sunday School
Check Out our Facebook Page or Website
for More Information
555 SW 11th, Hermiston
567-9497
Nursery provided for all
services
Sunday School - 9:30 AM
Worship - 10:45 AM
6:00 pm
Wed Prayer & Worship -
7:00 PM
“Proclaiming God’s word,
growing in God’s grace”
St. Johns
Episcopal Church
Join Us
On Our Journey
With Jesus.
Scripture, Tradition and Reason
541-289-4535
Family service 9am Sunday
Tom Inch, Pastor
Grace and Mercy Lutheran Church, ELCA
191 Gladys Ave. • P.O. Box 1108
Hermiston, Oregon 97838
N.E. Gladys Ave & 7th, Hermiston
Fr. Dan Lediard, Priest. PH: 567-6672
We are an all inclusive Church
who welcomes all.
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN
CHURCH
-Presbyterian Church (USA)-
201 SW Dorion Ave.
Pendleton
Service of Worship - 10:00 am
Children’s Sunday School -
10:20 am
Fellowship - 11:00 am
www.pendletonpresbyterian.com
Open Hearted...
Open Minded
241 SE Second St. Pendleton
(541)276-3809
www.pendletonepiscopal.org
Sunday Holy Communion 9:00 a.m.
Wednesday Holy Communion Noon
Weekly Adults Spiritual Life Group
All Are Welcome
P eace L utheran C hurch
210 NW 9th, Pendleton
Redeemer
Episcopal
Church
ELCA
Come meet Jesus at
PENDLETON BAPTIST
CHURCH
on 1290 KUMA noon each Sunday
3202 SW Nye Ave Pendleton, OR
541-276-7590
Sunday Morning Worship 11:00 AM
Sunday Bible Classes 9:45 AM
Sunday Youth Group 6:00 PM
Mon. Community Women’s Study
9:30 AM & 6 PM
Awana Kids Club (K-6th grade)
Wed Men’s Study 6 PM
MOPS meeting the 1st Thur of the Month 6 PM
FAITH LUTHERAN
CHURCH
First United
Methodist Church
Join us Sundays
9:30
Sunday
Worship
9:30
am am
Sunday
Worship
10:30 am Fellowship
11:00 am Sunday School
& Adult Class
~Come and be at Peace ~
in Mission for Christ LCMC
Bible Study.........9:00 AM
Sunday Worship......10:30 AM
Red Lion Hotel
( Oregon Trail Room )
www.faithpendleton.org
FIRST SERVICE 8:30 AM
SECOND SERVICE 10:30 AM
712 SW 27 TH ST.
541-276-1894
www.fcogpendleton.com
Pendleton/Hermiston
352 SE 2nd Street, Pendleton
Sunday Worship 9am
541-276-2616
Worship Broadcast on
KUMA 1290 @ 11am
191 E. Gladys Ave,Hermiston
Sunday Worship 11am
541-567-3002
Worship Livestream at
herfumc.com
Open Hearts, Open Minds,
Open Doors
Rev. Dr. Jim Pierce, pastor
Sunday Worship
10:00am
Wednesday Bible Study
6:00pm
Youth Classes:
Nursery - 6th grade Sun & Wed
Jr & Sr High Discipleship Program Wed
Overcomer’s Outreach
Tuesday at 6:00pm - Annex
A Christ-centered, 12-Step
Recovery Support Group
Pastor Sharon Miller
401 Northgate, Pendleton
541-278-8082
www.livingwordcc.com
Good Shepherd
Lutheran Church
LCMC
Sunday worship at
11:00 AM
420 Locust St. • Boardman, OR
541-481-6132
Colin Brown, Pastor
To share your worship times
call Terri Briggs 541-278-2678