Cincy Man Sentenced to Church for Threats and Slurs
 

CINCINNATI -- A judge sentenced a suburban Cincinnati man to attend services for six weeks at a predominantly black church for threatening to punch a black cab driver and using racial slurs.

Brett Haines, 36, of Anderson Township, picked church over spending 30 days in the Hamilton County jail. Judge William Mallory Jr. offered Haines the choice Friday after Haines was convicted of disorderly conduct.

Haines was arrested in November for threatening cab driver David Wilson and Wilson's wife and telling them he hated black people. Prosecutors said Haines was drunk.

Read the rest HERE

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I'm with Wilson. They should have sent him to jail. I highly doubt that being forced to go to a Black church will give him greater sensitivity or cultural awareness. If anything, it'll give him more fodder for his tirades. :rolleyes:

In another article, it mentioned that he went to a Kingdom Hall.

If anything, I would have had him do a variety of cultural things: attend King Day festivities, attend church, etc. AND go to jail and have a Black man as his cell mate. :cool:

I like your sentence better. :D

Could you edit that to add "a big, burly Black man as his cell mate"? :)

I would hope that was understood. :p I don't want him to be in a cell with someone who was imprisoned for stealing post it notes at work. I want Debo to be his cellmate.

Never underestimate the post it stealing brother. Still waters run deep. :p

Re: the article
While I am an advocate of alternative sentencing, I believe in this instance the defendant got off scott free.

Cincinnati is such an "interesting" city---it was the first place where I saw a burned cross on someone's lawn (and this was in the late '90s). :(

^^
I wonder what our Cincinnatians would think of this. Calling Soror WenD08 and TonyB...

I'm mad the judge thought the black church goers wanted the man in their house of worship. I wouldn't want to be subjected to this "person" while I'm trying to praise the Lord.

Odd story indeed, but race issues occur in many cities with diverse populations -- so Cincy's not exempt. Hey, Imma always rep the hometown, cause that's my spot and where my people are.

but we all know that WenD08 is holdin' it down there as "the real mayor," so I'll defer to her ivy lovliness :) ....

Why odd, TonyB?

Odd was a poor word choice on my part. "Unfortunate" would have been a better choice. Imma still have to look the other way at you calling my hometown "interesting" however. ;)

While I don't know if this was the best idea (I actually like CT4's combo approach as well!), it would not only be a lesson for him but a lesson for the members of the church. As Christians the doors should be open to all and there are little demons sitting in the congregations every day...we just have to pray for them! Now I would hate if the worship experience became a 'show' because people wanted to change or record the whole thing or something.

BTW, Cincy is an 'interesting' city...nasty chili not withstanding! :p

...I can see that some people just ain't gon be satisfied until I come to Atlanta and set them straight. :D

well, since i've been summoned:D, i'll chime in on this:

i have to agree w/CT4 on the "combo platter" approach. i see where the judge was going but church visitation isn't enough.
next, why that particular church? no offense to any JWs who may be reading, but i can think of lots of other churches he should've attended: mine (Lincoln Heights MB), New Jerusalem BC under Rev. Damon Lynch, Jr., a well-respected minister in town, and others. i do think other pastors in town would have engaged him in dialogue and perhaps kept his racial "education" going.
i will say, Cincy is an interesting city. i've lived here most of my life and in other cities as well and we're unique but not in the best way. i've witnessed racial instances in bigger cities that i've not seen/heard of here but this man's crime was of no surprise to me. i'm surprised i've not read of more folks like him.
at any rate, i'll not go into my Cincy views. too long, too detailed.
but i'm still here and hopeful that our new mayor (not me:D), brother of the above-mentioned judge will make the changes needed so we don't have any more stories like this.
and no more about folks being left in houses mummifying over years vs. being buried:eek:

Thanks for agreeing with me WenD and Eclipse.

WenD, that would be a better alternative. Have the perpetrator attend church with his victim and publicly apologize. :o Also have some dialogue with a small group consisting of the pastor and deacons and a few other church leaders, men and women. Don't just send him to church. I can go to church and not hear one word, note of a song, etc. Make him do a report. Take him to the Black History museum. Show him Roots.

I didn't hear about this at all. This is very unfortunate and the sentence really wasn't enough. I just don't think him attending a black church for 6 weeks will "rehabilitate" him. Anyone can go to church and not hear the word at all.

Cincinnati is interesting. I discussed it in another thread over on Alpha Ave a while back. Since I have only lived in DC and Cincy, I just found Cincy as a complete opposite of what I'm used to here. But racism is everywhere, heck its here in DC. The way in which people purport it varies.

Oh goodness don't get me started on that. Last week a rural african american family got a chemical bomb put in their mailbox!

I swear, living in Cincinnati, it's like a different world :( I'm so happy we got Mark Mallory as our mayor. He will definately bring some much needed change to the city.