Florida Sentinel Bulletin

PHILADEPHIA — Even as President Barack Obama’s re-election effort is powering toward an impressive early fundraising haul, campaign officials are trying to reassure donors who have concerns about a range of policy decisions and pace of change during Pres. Obama’s first term.

Some top donors and even members of Pres. Obama’s campaign team say that to replicate the success of 2008, the president and his advisers must reassure the fundraising community on a number of issues, from regulations on Wall Street to the Middle East peace process to the president’s refusal to endorse gay marriage.

Pres. Obama seemed to acknowledge the dampened expectations Thursday during a fundraiser in Philadelphia, telling campaign donors that he knew there would be setbacks in governing, just like he faced setbacks during his campaign in 2008. But he appealed to supporters to show the same vigor they did more than two years ago to send him to victory.

Pres. Obama’s team hopes to raise $60 million for the campaign and the Democratic National Committee when the latest fundraising quarter ends Thursday.

President Barack Obama meets with audience members after he made remarks during a fundraiser last Thursday.

OKLAHOMA — As a motorist passed by St. John’s Baptist Church in a Sapulpa, OK, a small town outside of Tulsa, he didn’t expect to see a flaming cross planted right on the front lawn.
The Creek County Sherriff’s office took pictures and collected evidence from the scene, but no arrests have been made. However, there are three persons of interests including an 18-year-old and two teenagers, all white males.

The cross, made up of wooden parts from a waterbed was propped on a chain link fence before it was set on fire. This isn’t the first time the church has been targeted. It’s been both burglarized and vandalized, suffering broken windows and damage from thrown rocks.

MICHIGAN — Afrykayn Moon, 32, was breastfeeding her son on a bus outside of Detroit when the bus driver ordered her to either cover up while nursing or get off the bus. According to Michigan state law, Moon did have the right to continue breast-feeding under public-indecency laws and held her ground during the confrontation.

However, the SMART system bus driver refused to tolerate the breastfeeding. Moon says the driver would not leave the bus stop until the infant was done feeding. In addition, security at a nearby mall was called to board the bus and question her at the next stop.

The bus driver involved with Afrykayn Moon is on paid leave.

NEW YORK — The mother of a 19-year-old Cornell University student who died during an alcohol-related fraternity hazing ritual has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the national fraternity.

Marie Lourdes Andre filed the lawsuit in Brooklyn against the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity. The suit seeks at least $25 million in damages.

George Desdunes was found unconscious on a couch at the fraternity house in Ithaca in February and later was pronounced dead. The lawsuit says he had his hands and feet bound in a mock kidnapping and was made to drink alcohol until he passed out. Cornell revoked the fraternity’s recognition after the death.

The fraternity was founded at the University of Alabama in the 1850s. Its website says it consists of 241 chapters with about 11,000 undergraduate members. It hasn’t returned a telephone call seeking comment.

TENNESSEE — Linda McKinnie sat down to eat her meal in peace at Wendy’s.

McKinnie suddenly started yelling at customers and even threw a chair into a window, causing a massive crack. While Wendy’s employees made a call to 911, McKinnie ran into a nearby ALDI yelling.

Thanks to a prior warning from Wendy’s employees, the supermarket security guards were able to apprehend McKinnie and remove her from the premises, but McKinnie wasn’t finished.

She then crossed six-lanes of traffic and entered K-Mart, quickly moving throughout the store setting multiple fires with lighters in her possession. McKinnie is scheduled to appear in court on July 7th.

MICHIGAN — A Michigan couple got an unpleasant surprise when they sat down for dinner on Sunday.

According to reports, John K. Jones found a dead mouse buried in his salad. The couple, along with Wright’s 7-year-old son had already eaten some of the Dole salad mix, which they purchased from a Kroger grocery store.

The couple contacted Dole, as well as Kroger, and both companies offered to refund the couple the price of the bag of salad.

WASHINGTON — One in every 20 federal prisoners could be eligible for early release under a potential sentencing change to be voted on Thursday for inmates convicted of crack cocaine offenses.

Congress passed a law last year substantially lowering recommended sentences for people convicted of crack cocaine crimes, ranging from possession to trafficking. The idea was to fix a longstanding disparity in punishments for crack and powder cocaine crimes, but the new, lower recommended sentences for crack offenders didn’t automatically apply to people already in prison. Now the six-member U.S. Sentencing Commission must decide whether offenders locked up for crack offenses before the new law took effect should benefit and get out earlier.

Up to 12,000 of the roughly 200,000 people incarcerated in federal prisons nationwide could be affected. A report by the commission estimates that the average sentence reduction would be approximately three years, though a judge would still have to approve any reduction.

“There is a tremendous amount of hope out there,” said Mary Price, vice president of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, an advocacy group for prisoners and their relatives.

“There is a potential that people could see their sentences reduced, for some quite dramatically.”

MASSACHUSETTS — A drowned woman’s body sat unnoticed at the bottom of a public pool for two day, while people swarm in the water.

According to reports, 36-year-old Marie Joseph drowned in a Fall River, Massachusetts pool on Sunday (June 26th), but was not found until Tuesday night.

Reports by Turnto10.com state:
Authorities identified the woman as Marie Joseph, 36, of Fall River.

According to police, Joseph’s body had been in Veteran’s Memorial Pool at Lafayette Park since Sunday. Investigators said the body was found by people who were at the pool after it closed at 10 p.m. Tuesday.

The pool is operated by the state Department of Conservation and Recreation. Lifeguards were on duty throughout the day on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, yet police said no one saw the body.

Friends of Joseph told NBC 10 they’re angry that her death somehow went unnoticed.
“People were swimming there with a body in there. They didn’t find the body until (Tuesday night),” one woman said.

FT. LAUDERDALE — Authorities say an Oakland Park mother and her daughter faces charges after being accused of beating and stabbing a teenager, and slamming her puppy on the ground.

When deputies arrived on the scene on Tuesday, they saw 46-year-old Naomie Jeanite (pictured, right) swinging a baseball bat at four teens, the Broward Sheriff’s Office said.

Prior to the arrival of deputies, Jeanite had hit a 15-year-old with a bat and then Jeanite’s 17-year-old daughter also stabbed the teen twice in the arms with a knife, the sheriff’s office said.

After stabbing the teen in the arm, the daughter picked up the 8-week-old puppy and slammed it onto the sidewalk, authorities said.