who was david ware?

The internet makes this world of ours a very small place. A few days ago, I posted something about the questionable killing of an unarmed drug dealer named David Ware in my neighborhood, and today I hear from his sister, in Texas. Alethia Ware and I have been trading notes for the last few hours now. I guess it’s therapeutic for both of us. I think she appreciates the degree of closure she gets from knowing that there are people in this community who want answers as to why her brother had to die with a bullet in his back. And I appreciated the opportunity to get to know a little more about his life, and what brought him to be where he was on that last night of his life. Our conversation has been pretty wide-ranging. It started with the factual errors in the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s press release clearing officer Uriah Hamilton of any wrongdoing in the shooting (I was right – they got her brother’s name wrong), and ultimately turned toward David’s children and what the likelihood is that they will lead healthy, fulfilling, productive lives. What follows are out-takes from Alethia’s notes to me. She gave me permission to post them, and even to share this photo of her and her brother, because she wanted it to be known that her brother was more than just a man who was killed by police during a drug bust that went wrong in Ypsilanti.

…Thank you for taking the time to acknowledge my brother. It is so shameful that they can’t even get his name right. His name is ‘David Antjuan Ware’ and he was a father of 6, a brother of 4, a son and a friend to may people in the Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti area. I’m sure to the officers he is just one less black felon that they have to worry about, not even worthy enough for them to get his name correct. Well, just for the record this is the second father, brother and son that my family has lost at a young age. My brother Leon died at 26 in an accident, so you can only imagine the grief that my family and I are faced with. I’m sure the officers involved with my brother’s death can wake up and see their sons and talk to their brothers everyday. I no longer have that privilege, I don’t have my brothers anymore. I have 6 nieces and nephews to help support because the police killed their father as he was scared and running away and they justify it because he was so-called “known for carrying a gun”. HOW CAN YOU SHOOT A MAN IN THE BACK AS HE IS RUNNING AWAY? He was not a threat to anyone while running away, it just doesn’t make any since. How can one explain this to his children? The police fail to realize one important piece missing from their “mission to stop crime”. They say my brother was a drug dealer, well perhaps the fact that he lost his father at the age of 4 played a role in why he strayed down the wrong path. He did not have the guidance needed from a father and the police sure didn’t give him an opportunity to turn his life around. Now there are 4 young boys fatherless. I’m not saying that my nephews will go down the same path, however, I am just pointing out how a series of events can contribute to the vicious cycle of crime! How did killing my brother fix anything?

I love my brother with all of my heart. He was a very loving young man. He was an artist, very passionate about his music and I am his # 1 fan. My brother will be loved forever and I can only be grateful to have shared 29 years with him. They took my brother’s life, I thank God that they cannot take his memory!

At some point our conversation turned to families and how sometimes terrible events seem to ripple through generations, destroying lives. In my family, it was the suicide of my grandfather, which I think played a large role in the suicide of my uncle years later. In the Ware family, it seems to be the death of her young father.

My father passed away at 29 years old, he died in a motorcycle accident. My Brother was 4, I was 2 and my younger sister was a couple months old. At the time I had 3 half siblings. An older brother, now deceased, an older sister (both by my mom) and an older sister (on my dad’s side) who after my fathers death I never saw again until I was an adult.

My father’s name is David Ware, my brother was named after him. My brother was born on my father’s birthday. My father passed away at 29, as did David, and my brother has a son named David that is 4 years old, which is the same age my brother was when we lost our father.

I’m so very afraid, because all the men in my life that I love are gone. I don’t have any brothers or a father. I lack the security that I cherished before my brother died. It’s weird because over the last couple months my brother told me he loved me absolutely every time we talked. Almost as though he knew something and wanted me to know how much he loved me. My heart is broken and I miss my brother so much.

The way he died reflects the hatred in the world and how so many people look at the smaller picture. The police only saw a “drug dealer” that is so minute in the grand scheme of David’s life! His death has hit my family and me like a ton of bricks. I cannot imagine feeling worse than I feel today. I miss him so much. I just want my brother back!

And this was her response when asked about her brother’s children and what resources, if any, were available to them through local civic organizations, government entities, and churches.

…I cannot stress enough how comforting it is to know that people care. That there are people who are pushing for answers in my brother’s case.

Attached is a photo of my brother and me after my graduation ceremony from EMU last year. Perhaps you can add the photo so people can see his smile. He was proud of me!

The kids have support from my family and friends. I’m not sure if the kids’ mothers take them to church, however, my mother brings them all together at least once a week and my mom has a very supportive church home. It is very important that the children have lots of support, it really does take a community to raise a child!

Ever since I was a child my brother and I talked about how painful it is to be without our father. My brother’s deepest fear was not being there for his children, that is the one of the things that keeps me up at night.

I’m not trying to suggest that David Ware was an upright and contributing member of our society, and I’m not even saying that the officer who killed him necessarily acted inappropriately. (If you’re interested in finding out more about Uriah Hamilton, the officer who shot Ware, by the way, see the profile up at Maproom Systems. I think it provides a nice counterpoint to this post of mine.) I’m just posting this so as to remind people that David Ware was a human being. I may be wrong about this, but in all the coverage of his shooting, has anyone seen a photo of him other than right here, right now?

I don’t like drug dealers any more than the next guy, but do they really need to be depersonalized to the extent that we don’t see their faces when they’re killed in our neighborhood, or, for that matter, even bother to get their names right? Does that make it easier to accept when they’re dragged off to jail, or shot in front of our homes? Yeah, I guess you could say that I’m a bleeding heart liberal. Maybe that makes it easier to dismiss what I’m saying. But, if you don’t care about civil rights, think about it in practical terms. How much more can the system take? Right now, about 1 of every 136 U.S. residents are in jail, the most in any nation. As of June 2005, that was 2,186,230 people. And, at that time, 57% of those in federal prison where there on drug offenses. And, as long as I’m spouting off statistics, over 10% of African-American men between the ages of 25 and 29 are incarcerated as I type this. I’d suggest this isn’t tenable. At some point we either need to decriminalize (some) drugs (at least in some controlled areas), or we need to start making education a real priority. People need to have opportunities, they need to feel useful, and they need to have a reason to live. What do you think the odds are that all four of David Ware’s sons will make it to 30 alive? And at what point do we say, “enough”?

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65 Comments

  1. idmta
    Posted February 14, 2007 at 12:28 am | Permalink

    Mark Maynard For President, 2008.

  2. cswilba
    Posted February 14, 2007 at 7:33 am | Permalink

    Thank you Mark for this posting and for Alethia for the portrait of her brother.

  3. oliva
    Posted February 14, 2007 at 10:20 am | Permalink

    Thank you, Mark and Alethia. What a beautiful photo–special indeed. I hope Alethia will stay in touch, feeling love and support from people here, and to help keep our eyes open about her brother’s life and other lives. And to let us know what his children (and sister and mother) need or could use.

    As for bleeding heart comments about drug dealers, incarceration, and the value of life and more justice–a heart probably can’t bleed enough when you start thinking about some of the harshest imbalances in our country re. who gets chased, charged, etc. I remember the 30th birthday of a black friend of mine–he came over and with something almost like astonishment, and real gratitude, said, “I did it–I made it to 30!” Then he offered some statistics to show what a triumph that really was. Imagine that–how ridiculous that a radiantly bright, extremely goodhearted young black man would have to fear not even reaching 30 years old in this country in the 21st century–and to be sad way too much about things.

    What a valuable posting, Mark and Alethia. Thanks again.

  4. ytown
    Posted February 14, 2007 at 11:04 am | Permalink

    It is a sad day when a human life is lost! However, who loses more, his six children born out of wedlock or the lives damaged and destroyed by the drugs he chose to sell? This guy was nothing but a drain on the resourcs of a city struggling to become a proud city again. There are choices you must make in life, sell drugs or not sell drugs, study in school or not study, shoot at the police or not shoot at the police, where protection or not where protection during sex. I have several friends that grew up in this city with similar heart-breaking stories of their childhood who grew up and became productive members of this society, I am tired of the habitiual law breakers recieving more sympathy and attention than the people who put their lives on the line everyday for you an I!

  5. t.d. glass
    Posted February 14, 2007 at 11:14 am | Permalink

    I don’t think that anyone here is saying that he shouldn’t have been apprehended and put in prison. I think the issue was with how, instead of giving chase, the police chose to shoot him in the back, killing him. (And he didn’t shoot at the police. He was unarmed.) It’s not a question of whether Ware was bad or not. It’s a question of the unnecessary use of deadly force.

  6. ytown
    Posted February 14, 2007 at 11:52 am | Permalink

    Why do we forgive and forget why Mr. Ware was in this situation? He was selling drugs with an accomplice that tried to run over the police! Who are we to put ourselves in the position of the police. Did they know that Mr. Ware was unarmed? Of course not. Did the police know that they were the target of a vehicle that tried to kill them? Yes!
    I am not saying that police make mistakes, they are humans too. However, I am willing to side with the police in this matter, than a known felon who was also known to carry a weapon! This guy was bad news for the safety of the people of Ypsi!

  7. ytown
    Posted February 14, 2007 at 12:02 pm | Permalink

    He sold drugs and was known to carry a gun! I don’t care about race, he was a menace to society! How can you decriminalize drugs? Have you seen first hand the lives it ruins? I have! Drugs affect all of us! The incarceration and rehabilitation of sellers and users, the petty theft, home invasions and rapes that have occured in this city recently have a huge impact on you and me!

  8. murph
    Posted February 14, 2007 at 12:23 pm | Permalink

    ytown – I can’t agree with your all-or-nothing approach to this.

    Particularly disturbing is this:

    However, who loses more, his six children born out of wedlock or the lives damaged and destroyed by the drugs he chose to sell?

    Let me get this clear – are you saying that his kids’ lives are worth less because they were born out of wedlock? Or that his kids’ lives are worth less because he was a drug dealer? Either way, your willingness to dismiss his children’s lives – to happily offer up the welfare of six children as a fair price for the sins of the father – kind of sickens me.

  9. ytown
    Posted February 14, 2007 at 12:32 pm | Permalink

    You are looking for something to disagree with me about! I am saying that the ones most affected are the children! I have children of my own and I work with children everyday! They are the ones I feel for the most, they are the ones who are being hurt the most! As far as the out of wedlock comment, that speaks to Mr. Ware’s character. I t is well known and accepted that children who grow up with an active and involved father are better for it! The kids lives are special and wonderful, I am saying that Mr. Wares life was being wasted by his choice of lifestyle! I am wondering why you side with a known felon?

  10. oliva
    Posted February 14, 2007 at 12:54 pm | Permalink

    It seems worth mentioning here something said by the head of LAWNET, Chief Garth Burnside, at the meeting last Wed. at the Senior Center: “Mr. Ware’s life means a lot to me . . . it’s a tragic situation all around.”

  11. schutzman
    Posted February 14, 2007 at 1:01 pm | Permalink

    ytown-

    the comments you’ve made are highly subjective and dogmatic. The subjectivity element is particularly bizarre, as they’re certainly not based upon personal experience or research.

    the only way drugs affect ‘all of us’, is by the lobbying efforts of pharmaceutical companies to keep health care from being nationalized, and by those same companies attempting to seduce users to become dependent upon their products.

    the ramifications of ‘illegal’ drugs are inflated incarceration rates, and the effect this has on the lives of the prisoners and their families (like Ware’s).

    One can’t make blanket statements about ‘drugs,’ without clarifying what drugs. Even if we narrow the discussion to cocaine and its derivations, it’s difficult to prove scientifically that all users are destroyed by the substance, or that the means we’re employing to fight it are remotely justified.

    Regardless of that, you have no right to tell others who they can or can’t be sympathetic towards. I personally feel terrible for Mr. Ware and his family, but I think that Mr. Hamilton is a human being, too, and was similarly led down a chain of events towards an incident which, while perhaps not inevitable, is almost to be expected from our culture.

    A culture, I might add, brought about largely because people have lost the ability to think for themselves, and tend to just parrot soundbytes they hear on television rather than develop their own opinions.

    ~

    mark- mp3s of Ware’s work would be nice to hear, if they are available.

  12. ytown
    Posted February 14, 2007 at 1:17 pm | Permalink

    schutzman
    It’s obvious that you are or have been an illegal drug user by the way you deny its harmful effects. It is also very interesting how you can advocate nationalized health care during the discussion of the shooting death of Mr. Ware. I am very sympathetic to Mr. Hamilton and the situation he was forced into by the lifestyle choices of Mr. Ware. I am also very sympathetic to Mr. Ware’s family as it is a tragedy to lose a family member.
    You are correct that I cannot tell people what to feel. Just as you have no idea if I have felt the effects of drugs. I despise illegal drugs because I have felt its effects with tragic consequences!

    “as they’re certainly not based upon personal experience or research.”

    I resent the fact the you presume to know my past and experiences! How dare you trivialize my comments without kinowledge of my background!

    It is obvious that you are of supreme intelligence by the fact that you can insult others in a clever and backhanded manner.

    “A culture, I might add, brought about largely because people have lost the ability to think for themselves, and tend to just parrot soundbytes they hear on television rather than develop their own opinions.”

  13. schutzman
    Posted February 14, 2007 at 1:49 pm | Permalink

    I apologize for being back-handed. Allow me to be more direct.

    I think you’re wrong. You’ve oversimplified the entire situation. You’ve made a number of very blunt universal statements, which as you can see, some people who frequent this blog do not agree with.

    The harmfullness- or lack thereof- involving any substances is shown by medical reports and FDA publications. Reading these and drawing a conclusion which is somewhat nuanced does not make one a drug user, any more than eating a menu will make you full.

    I don’t have health insurance. This is because of the same lobbyists and legislators that have imposed draconian drug laws on our society, including making ‘safe’ drugs from canada unavailable to our public. My lack of health insurance is also, coincidentally, because this society doesn’t recognize domestic partnership or common law, and thus my 14-year relationship with my spouse is non-existent due to a lack of that important ‘wedlock’ you refer to above.

    All of that effects me infinitely more than two guys sitting in the keg’s parking lot making a drug deal.

    If you want to tell your personal tales and convince others of the conclusions you’ve drawn, then please feel free. But don’t expect sympathy from a group of strangers, who know nothing about you or your experiences, when you suddenly appear and start ranting at them.

  14. ingrid
    Posted February 14, 2007 at 2:36 pm | Permalink

    Mark, thank you for posting this. You’ve put the plight of Mr. Ware and his family in a light that we have not seen in our local media.

    This situation reminds me of Malice Green who was brutally beaten to death by police in the early 1990s in Detroit in similar circumstances. I believe his family secured a settlement from the city of more than 5 million dollars. We are all going to pay financially and more importantly, morally, for Mr. Hamilton’s shooting of an unarmed fleeing man.

    As for the idea that having children out of wedlock is a negative reflection of an individual’s character, I also take offense. Yes, children need an involved father. My child born out of wedlock has a father who lives with him, loves him and is involved in every aspect of his life . It could well have been the same with Mr. Ware; I don’t know. But, as his sister poignantly describes, Mr. Ware willl never be involved with his children again.

  15. julesabu
    Posted February 14, 2007 at 2:38 pm | Permalink

    Hey, ytown. Put a sock in it. Now, I’m sure you won’t. But I feel a little better having wrote that. I really wanted to tell you to shut the fuck up but that would be rude. Kinda like how rude and indecent, yes, indecent! your remarks are. How dare Mark actually humanize David Ware! I’m glad you made all the right choices at the right time in your life. But some of us are screwups. Myself, I’m glad that I received some second, third and fourth chances in my life to get it right. No, I was never an addict or a drug dealer, nothing dramatic like that. Just a human being, having to learn some things the hard way. Maybe David Ware would have made further bad decisions if he had lived. Then again, maybe his life would have turned around at some point. We will never know and whatever the circumstances of this shooting, I have a feeling that Officer Hamilton doesn’t share your blithe hard-heartedness. I’ll bet he’s struggling with his part in this loss of a human life.
    And Mark, I just want to thank you for putting a face to the man. Whatever his failings as a human being, he didn’t deserve to be shot in the back. My own opinion is that it’s a fucked up law that allows this. Officers should not be in the position of being judge and executioner on the fly.
    Alethia, I’m so sorry that you lost the brother that you loved. Thank you for sharing your picture with us.

  16. oliva
    Posted February 14, 2007 at 2:53 pm | Permalink

    If I may–and I’m sorry the figures in the second item aren’t more up-to-date, although there’s a wealth of relevant and related material available online (I was going for an uncontroversial source):

    from January, 2004 (The Sentencing Project)
    “Schools and Prisons: Fifty Years After Brown v. Board of Education”
    Marc Mauer and Ryan S. King

    . . . the prosecution of the drug war has disproportionately affected communities of color. Surveys conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services estimate that blacks constitute 13.3% of monthly drug users, yet blacks represent 32.5% of persons arrested for drug offenses.5 Of all persons imprisoned for drug offenses, three fourths are black or Latino. These disparities result in large part through a two-tiered application of the drug war. In communities with substantial resources, drug abuse is primarily addressed as a public health problem utilizing prevention and treatment approaches. In low-income communities those resources are in short supply and drug problems are more likely to be addressed through the criminal justice system.

    . . . At current rates of incarceration, one of every three black males born today can expect to be imprisoned at some point in his lifetime. Whether or not one believes that current crime control policies are ‘working’? to reduce crime, such an outcome should be shocking to all Americans. Imposing a crime policy with such profound racial dynamics calls into question the nation’s commitment to a free and democratic society.

    Current imprisonment policies affect not only the nearly 900,000 African Americans in prison and jail, but increasingly, their families and communities as well. One of every 14 black children has a parent in prison on any given day; over the course of childhood, the figures would be much higher. Family formation, particularly in urban areas heavily affected by incarceration, is also affected by these trends. In the highest incarceration neighborhoods of Washington, D.C., the absence of black men has created a gender ratio of only 62 men for every 100 women.8

    Community power is affected by felon disenfranchisement laws as well, which restrict voting rights while serving a felony sentence or in some cases permanently, depending on the state in which one lives. In the coming Presidential election, one of every eight black males (13%) will not be able to vote as a result of a current or previous felony conviction. These laws affect the political influence not only of people with a felony conviction, but of their communities as well. People in these neighborhoods who do not themselves have a felony conviction also have their political voices diluted since fewer residents representing their interests are able to participate in the electoral process.

    None of these issues suggests that crime is not a problem for all Americans, or for African Americans in particular. But the approaches taken to address this problem over the past several decades have created a situation whereby imprisonment has come to be seen as an almost inevitable aspect of the maturing process for black men, and increasingly for black women. The social cost of these policies is substantial and growing larger each year. In this 50th anniversary of the Brown decision, it is time for the nation to reflect on progress in education, but also to assess how the overall status of the black community has been affected. The dynamics of criminal justice policy suggest that the nation has taken a giant step backward in this regard.

    http://www.sentencingproject.org/PublicationDetails.aspx?PublicationID=390

    * * *

    In a recent U.S. Justice Department “juvenile-justice report, minorities were at least twice as likely as whites to be sentenced to prison, even comparing youth with similar criminal histories. Similarly, a recent General Accounting Office study showed that minorities were far more likely than whites to face intrusive searches by US Customs. In fact, Customs Service searches did not correlate with the likelihood of discovering contraband. In at least one category, the disparity was startling: The report found that black women were 9 times more likely to be x-rayed after a frisk or pat-down in 1997 and 1998, but actually `were less than half as likely to be found carrying contraband as white women.’ New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s study of the `stop and frisk’ practices in New York City, using a complex statistical model, found that 50 percent of all police stops were of black New Yorkers, though African-Americans account for only 25 percent of the city’s population. Even taking into account the demographics of each police precinct and the crime rate by race, the report found black New Yorkers were still twice as likely to be stopped and frisked as whites.” Source: “Opinion: New Facts on Racial Profiling”, The Christian Science Monitor v.92 no.118 (10 May 2000): p.8.

    http://www.lib.msu.edu/harris23/crimjust/race.htm

  17. ytown
    Posted February 14, 2007 at 3:18 pm | Permalink

    This message board is full of your run of the mill liberals. When someone disagrees with their point of view they become angry, tell people to “shut the f*** up”, accuse them of ranting, and dismissing them as ignorant.
    I meant no disrespect to anyone who reads this blog, or to Mr. Ware. My point in my initial posting was to say that death is terrible, but it happens sometimes when people make certain decisions, ie. selling drugs to cops and attempted murder with a motor vehicle.
    I see some of you take this blog way too personal and cannot let others with differing view points share thier opinions without becoming enraged. I will no longer post on this subject as some members cannot open their minds and listen to views different from their own.
    Without dialogue there is silence.

  18. julesabu
    Posted February 14, 2007 at 4:23 pm | Permalink

    What I take personal, ytown, is your lack of common decency, which led to you insult some people who had the nerve to care about a flawed but loved human being. You say you meant no disrespect, yet you accused shutzman of being a drug dealer, based solely on his opinion. Perhaps you could open YOUR mind and maybe your heart to the fact that whatever his mistakes, David Ware was a human being who was loved by his family. See, it’s not an either or situation. I can care about what happened to him at the same time that I can respect Officer Hamilton for putting his life on the line for the community. One does not negate the other.

  19. Dirtgrain
    Posted February 14, 2007 at 4:34 pm | Permalink

    Enough.

  20. ooohexxxplode
    Posted February 14, 2007 at 5:54 pm | Permalink

    I agree Mark, I’m currently in alot of crap right now to be honest.
    I’m only 16, and I’m now expelled from any public school school in the state of North Carolina.
    I have 3 pending adult felony charges for selling a Schedule IV drug.
    The most depressing thing, the only reason I sold them was because I was quitting.
    I said “Enough, I wanted my life back on complete track, enough experimenting”.
    Next thing I know, my life is 100 times worse.
    I had dreams. I had a plan for my life, to go off to college, become something great. I had alot going for me too.
    A college prep school, captain of two varsity teams, a job working with kids, lots of friends, I had alot going for me.
    Then as soon as I decide to quit experimenting with drugs and substances, my life gets fucked. I mean, this was the last two pills that I had. The very last thing I had to do to get out of that lifestyle, and I get caught.
    Now, I have no car, no job, no school, nothing.
    All lost in a matter of days.
    Thank God I have optimism.
    This has only been since last Friday the 9th.
    I don’t know what to do with myself anymore.
    I let down alot of people.
    I’ve been reading your blog for a few months now, being an avid bear vs shark fan, thus Cannons would follow.
    I’m glad someone thinks people should get a second chance, and we shouldn’t be quick to judge.
    All I know is, this situation is showing me who truly has my back.

  21. egpenet
    Posted February 14, 2007 at 9:46 pm | Permalink

    The last time I posted here … I described that I felt empty. Just after that neighborhood meeting. That went away.

    I find it hard to admit this … but now there’s a growing helplessness deep inside, which probably makes the powers that be feel pretty good about not having to worry about paying for the errors of their ways. Maybe every one in town feels like Ed and they won’t bother us.

    I just throw up my hands. Then I literally throw up. Still, there’s that searing heat deep down inside. And it’s getting worse by the day. I think I have a case of rage.

  22. mark
    Posted February 14, 2007 at 10:02 pm | Permalink

    Hmmmm… I feel like I should jump in and say something, but I’m not quite sure what… At the very least, I think I should probably welcome the new folks and thank them for going to the effort of registering and posting comments. I hope you all come back again.

    YTown, I know what you said wasn’t popular, but I really do appreciate your sharing your thoughts. Personally, I think the site is better when there’s a wide diversity of opinion – as long as it’s somewhat open-minded and respectful. And, I suspect that the things you mentioned were things that have occurred to many of us, although we’d like to act as though they hadn’t. Personally, I struggled with the decision to bring one child into this world. I could not imagine being responsible for raising six to be thoughfull, decent adults. The difference is that I don’t think having six kids, either in or out of wedlock, means you deserve a bullet in the back. The two things, at least to me, are separate. And, in the long run, I’d suggest that education is a better means to arriving at a solution. We should, in my opinion, value education more in this country and we should demand leaders that inspire us to do better. Fewer jails, more inspiration. I could go on and on, but I’ll leave it at that for now… Just know that I do value your opinion and wish that you would comment more often. All I would ask in return is that you keep an open mind, and not lash out at others (suggesting they deal drugs, etc). There are certainly unpopular things that need to be said, and I appreciate anyone willing to step up to the mic and say them.

    Ooohexxxplode, thank you for leaving the comment. I’m hoping that it’s fiction, but I suspect that it isn’t. Either way, it really brings the rest of the conversation into focus. The struggles of youth today are much more difficult than ever before, and I don

  23. robr
    Posted February 14, 2007 at 10:26 pm | Permalink

    Well, the heat of the above conversation seems to have cooled along with our February temps (thankfully), and though I don’t intend or mean to throw kerosene on the embers, I still can’t help but notice in all this talk of ‘illegal drugs’ I’m left to wonder about the damage alcohol abuse has done to people and our society as a whole– Gotta wonder about our ‘legal’ drugs sometimes.

  24. ol' e cross
    Posted February 14, 2007 at 10:59 pm | Permalink

    Mark & Shutzman. Thanks for posting the faces. Sincerely. And all, (even ytown); thanks for the comments. I’m often a slow thinker and by the time I arrive at something worth saying a dozen of you have already said it better.

    I was reared in such a fashion as to never consider military/police service as an occupation anymore than drug-dealing. Each one places themself in situations I’d never consider risking my family’s widow/orphanhood for. Bottom line is, I can imagine alternate scenarios where I’d easily be Hamilton or Ware. And, I just don’t feel the right casting judgement on either (however wrong each may have been).

    Until saving the life of each costs me something (taxes for social services or time as a big brother, neighborhood watcher, etc.,) everything I might have to say is self-righteous indignation (sans the righteous). I find myself condemning and acquitting each.

    (Sidenote: I thought I was ready to be a neighborhood watcher until one such friend was car-chased for blocks for being a good citizen and another was beaten unconscious and left for dead. [Residents of neighbor to the east.])

    I am as guilty in passively allowing the circumstances that led to this shooting as either men were for being on the scene.

    I think Shutzman said it uncharacteristically well:

    “I personally feel terrible for Mr. Ware and his family, but I think that Mr. Hamilton is a human being, too, and was similarly led down a chain of events towards an incident which, while perhaps not inevitable, is almost to be expected from our culture.”

  25. oliva
    Posted February 15, 2007 at 9:43 am | Permalink

    Again, if I may–
    More on incarceration stats in today’s “Raw Story”:
    US prison population to add 200,000 convicts by 2011: study
    02/15/2007 @ 8:12 am
    Filed by RAW STORY

    The US prison population ballooned eight-fold between 1970 and 2005 and will grow by an additional 192,000 convicts by 2011, according to a new study.

    The report by the Pew Charitable Trusts said one in 178 US residents will live in prison by 2011 and the increase could cost American taxpayers another 27.5 billion dollars over the next five years in jail spending.

    “After a 700-percent increase in the US prison population between 1970 and 2005, you’d think the nation would finally have run out of lawbreakers to put behind bars,” said the report by Pew’s Public Safety Performance Project.

    But figures provided by US states show that 1.7 million people will be behind bars in 2011, a 13 percent increase that is three times the growth rate of the US population, the study said.

    The Pew data does not include local prisons, whose population in 2005 was nearly 750,000, bringing the total US prison population to 2.2 million people, the largest in the world.

    The jail growth will cost states another 15 billion dollars for prison operations and an additional 12.5 billion dollars to build new prisons.

  26. Dr. Cherry
    Posted February 15, 2007 at 10:38 am | Permalink

    Our Prison-Industrial Complex is a growth industry. Their lobby fights for stiffer sentences and more government spending on prisons.

    I’m not sure when or if America will catch on to what’s happening to her.

  27. dmcbass
    Posted February 15, 2007 at 12:19 pm | Permalink

    14 years ago, I was convicted of a felony drug charge. 25 years ago, I was a teenager born out of wedlock to a drug addict. 40 years ago, I was a child without a snowball’s chance in hell of breaking out of the cycle of drugs, poverty and hopelessness that I was born into.

    Today, I’m about to graduate from a Master’s program at EMU, I’ve raised 4 wonderfully well-adjusted children (one being the daughter of my crack-addicted sister), have a household income of nearly $200,000/yr and an outstanding community of people who love and support me.

    If someone had decided in September 1993 that I was a drain on society and that my life wasn’t worth the energy it would take to chase me down and arrest me, I too would have gone down in history the way David Ware did. And the cycle would not have been broken.

    DMCBASS

  28. rogerdodger
    Posted February 15, 2007 at 1:06 pm | Permalink

    This is an excellent post and shed a lot of light on the subject for me. I’d been looking for more information on this incident and I guess I’m not surprised I found it here. I hope, Mark, that you’ll followup if you find any more details from the investigations once they are complete. Thanks.

  29. ooohexxxplode
    Posted February 15, 2007 at 6:34 pm | Permalink

    Sadly Mark, it is my life.
    But like DMCBass proves to someone like me, theres a lot more hope. They were off worse than I am now.
    All I can say about these ordeals in general, is that people are people. We all make mistakes. Everyone deserves another chance. Too bad the Town of Ypsi seemed to have it in for Mr. Ware.

  30. ol' e cross
    Posted February 15, 2007 at 9:39 pm | Permalink

    I appreciate the spirit of DMCBass’s post and the success he’s had in breaking the cycle. And, he may likely agree with what follows. The one thing I think we can’t lose sight of is David Ware’s life was valuable, not for its potential, but because, regardless of our potential for failure or greatness, life is valuable. Status plays no part in calculating the value of life.

    We should always be cognizent of the potential to be better people than we currently are and celebrate when we take steps to becoming more loving folk, but, at the same time, we should realize that our inherent value as people has nothing to do with our success or failure.

    Drug dealers don’t deserve life because they may someday become good citizens, they deserve life because they’re alive. I don’t think DMC was suggesting any different, I just don’t want to grieve Ware’s death soley for lost potential, but for a life lost.

  31. Kate
    Posted February 15, 2007 at 10:40 pm | Permalink

    This is probably going to be an unpopular comment, but:

    David Ware had just exchanged over 40 grams of crack cocaine fot $2,800. This was not like buying an ounce of marijauana for recreational use. This was a major amount of what I think we can all agree is a horribly bad drug.

    David Ware took off running from a car that was attempting to run over a law enforcement officer, who then fired his weapon. Having been in the vicinity of gunshots being fired, I have to say it is hard to tell in a split instant where that sound is coming from, so it seems possible to me that the officers chasing Ware thought they were coming from him.

    Lt. Garth Burnside, the director of LAWNET, clearly said the officers were briefed that Ware had been known to carry a weapon in the past. While I was certainly not inside the chasing officers’ heads, it’s reasonable to think they believed they would be letting an armed and dangerous felon disappear into a residential neighborhood unless they took action. As Burnside said at the meeting, “If an officer tells you to stop, you should stop.”

    As a sister, myself, I can sympathize with Alethia’s loss of her brother. But, I am the sister of a now-retired cop and I know I prayed every day he was on duty that he would come home. I also know that taking a life is not “all in a day’s work” for any officer. My own brother shot and killed a man in the line of duty and was exonerated within eight hours. Still, the personal toll on my brother as he grappled with having taken a life was hard.

    I also know Uriah Hamilton and, while I have not talked with him since this incident, I know he would not have taken this action lightly. He is a good, serious, thoughtful and caring person. He takes the motto of “to protect and serve” seriously. I believe he felt he was protecting his city when he shot.

    To Alethia, I just want to say that your brother’s loss lies heavy on your heart and I understand that. You, and the other women in the lives of his children, must be strong. You must not teach those children bitterness. You must not teach them that their father’s passing is an excuse for bad behavior. From what you have said, I don’t think he would have wanted that.

    I raised my own son without a father, because his father, too, was a drug dealer who left us to fend for ourselves. My son’s father was never a part of our lives from the time my son was six months old. But, my son is now married and a father, himself, with a decent job and no criminal history. With support and discipline and women around them who insist they tread the right path, David Ware’s children can grow up to live long and productive lives.

  32. Dr. Cherry
    Posted February 16, 2007 at 1:15 am | Permalink

    To put things in perspective, four 50-cent pieces weigh a little more than 40 grams.

    I’m not sure how the quantity or cost of the controlled substance is weighed against Ware’s life.

    I’m also curious about what criteria LAWNET uses to label suspects at “possibly armed”. I suspect it’s quite liberal in it’s application.

    I’ve also seen liberal application of attempted vehicular assault. I wonder how far the vehicle moved before they shot the driver.

  33. Andy
    Posted February 16, 2007 at 3:09 pm | Permalink

    I know things get crazy out there but it’s the job of the police to be on top of it. I think LAWNET should stop using Uriah Hamilton and the city should consider letting him go as a token of good will to the community. It makes me nervous knowing we have police officer who is so quick to shoot.

  34. egpenet
    Posted February 16, 2007 at 4:07 pm | Permalink

    Today’s A2 Ndews reports that the other investigation into the street beating by some of the Sheriff deputies has been turned over to the Feds, and no further information will be made available.

    How many “D’s” are there in shreddddddder?

  35. Dr. Cherry
    Posted February 16, 2007 at 4:15 pm | Permalink

    It would appear that in a number of cases, police officers have stepped in front of fleeing cars to justify the use of deadly force. I guess it’s a “tactic” in some places.

    Here’s a story where an officer stepped in front of a fleeing vehicle twice:
    http://www.wftv.com/news/9625210/detail.html

    There’s been a few cases regarding the use of deadly force on fleeing felons:

    ROCHELLE BROSSEAU v. KENNETH J. HAUGEN: No. 03-1261.Decided December 13, 2004

    “If a fleeing felon is converted to a “threatening” fleeing felon solely based on the actions of a police officer, the police should not increase the degree of intrusiveness. In other words, we have no countervailing governmental interest in unreasonable police conduct that would justify a greater intrusion on the individual’s rights.”

    And the president used:

    “Haugen points us to Estate of Starks v. Enyart, 5 F. 3d 230 (CA7 1993), where the court found summary judgment inappropriate on a Fourth Amendment claim involving a fleeing suspect. There, the court concluded that the threat created by the fleeing suspect’s failure to brake when an officer suddenly stepped in front of his just-started car was not a sufficiently grave threat to justify the use of deadly force. Id., at 234″.

  36. dmcbass
    Posted February 16, 2007 at 9:51 pm | Permalink

    Ol’ E, your assumption of what I meant was correct. Life is life is life. Mine is no more valuable because of what I’ve been able to accomplish than my sister’s – or David Ware’s. My point was simply this – it’s a shame to make a judgement that is so permanent when there are so many complexities to be considered. Personally, I want to be someone who errs on the side of humanity.

    Oh, and just for the record, I’m a “she” ; )

    d

  37. ytown
    Posted February 17, 2007 at 11:49 pm | Permalink

    You people are so weak! Are you kidding me, the police officer stepped in front of the car so he could shoot someone!!!! You have got to be joking! I am sure the first thing Uriah Hamilton thought of was wow this guy is trying to run me over, I’ll stand here and shoot him because I can get away with it!! Maybe he was thinking, Oh Shit, this guy is trying to KILL me!!!!! Give the guy some credit, he was protecting the public. The public includes me, and I appreciate it!!! Just because I don’t have sympathy for someone who carries a gun and is a known felon does not make me a bad person. It makes me a realist. I have mae mistakes and paid the price. When you drive without a seat belt, sometimes you die. When you ride your bike without a helmet, sometimes you die. When you try to kill the police, sometimes you die. That’s life! dmcbass, you are one of the lucky ones, Mr. Ware wasn’t. It is sad, but true!
    dmcbass who are you trying to impress with your salary, it still doesn’t make you a good person! By the way, I still make more than you!

  38. ingrid
    Posted February 18, 2007 at 7:39 am | Permalink

    David Ware was not carrying a gun. He did not try to murder anyone. Moreover, District Judge Cedric Simpson has thrown out the murder charges against Ware’s companion, Moore, as he found that there was no evidence Moore intended to kill an officer.

  39. dmcbass
    Posted February 18, 2007 at 8:56 am | Permalink

    I’m not an opinionated asshole. That’s what makes me a good person.

    dmcb

  40. ytown
    Posted February 18, 2007 at 9:42 am | Permalink

    You are right Ingrid, David Ware and his drug selling buddy were good, upstanding citizens!

  41. Dirtgrain
    Posted February 18, 2007 at 10:08 am | Permalink

    Ol’ E Cross: “I am as guilty in passively allowing the circumstances that led to this shooting as either men were for being on the scene.”

    Yah. Saying, “enough,” is not enough (I even clicked your heels together).

    I cannot support the notion of making a human being a token, be that person a criminal or a police officer.

    The main cause is economic, yet we too often look to treat the symptom. Our system should be built around prevention–not intervention. Culture, too, is a factor, but I don’t know how to effectively address that.

    What can we do locally?

    I’m a teacher–not in Ypsi. Helping students become competent, skilled, critically-thinking people has been a goal of mine since I decided to be a teacher. In what ways can we locally use education as a preventative measure?

    What kind of organizations do we have that help young people? I’ve met students from Ypsilanti’s community center poetry slam team before. Other than that, and some church-related groups, I’m ingnorant. What else is there?

    Years ago, I was a Washtenaw Literacy volunteer. What else is there in place to help adults who are struggling economically?

  42. ytown
    Posted February 18, 2007 at 1:27 pm | Permalink

    Actually dmcbass you are opinionated. You have very strong opinions of me and you don’t know me. Why do you insist on using profanity and personal attacks?

  43. Dirtgrain
    Posted February 18, 2007 at 2:14 pm | Permalink

    Labelling your opponents in an argument is one of the weakest things you can do, you weakass!

    Oh. . . Oops.

  44. egpenet
    Posted February 18, 2007 at 5:05 pm | Permalink

    Mark …

    1) Did David’s sister know he was dealing?
    2) Obviously some of the money he brought home for his family was from drug deals: did they know about that?
    3) Did the family talk to him about that and the risks he was taking for himself, for his family?
    4) Did his friends know, and try to get him to stop?
    5) Were there ANY attempts at an intervention?
    6) Did David have another job? If not, how did he support himself and his family?

    My wife and family know me, know what I do and are on me all the time to be a good person, do the right thing and make things right in my life. That’s what family does. Friends and neighbors, too. Even co-workers.

    That it all came to THIS horrible end for David really has bothered me now for several weeks. I cannot believe that no words were spoken, that everybody he knows simply throught he was a great and generous guy. I’m sure he was a good son and brother … but SOMEBODY had to KNOW … and that SOMEBODY simply looked the other way. We, TOO, are responsible for his death. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not blaming anybody. But we have to SPEAK to our children, brothers and sisters, and cousins and DEMAND they get themselves straightened out. If it takes a chain and a van and a trip to Dawn Farm … so be it! I can’t forget his smile.

  45. ol' e cross
    Posted February 19, 2007 at 12:06 am | Permalink

    DMC: Sorry for presumption of gender. I’m a “bass” (well, truthfully, a baritone, but a play a bass in local band.) As such, I ascribed gender to your name to reassure my own masculinity as a deep singer. Thanks for forgiving me. ;)

    As for the rest. I don’t know. I’ve spent the better part of an hour typing and deleting comments because I can’t even convince myself of anything I have to say.

  46. t.d. glass
    Posted February 19, 2007 at 9:12 am | Permalink

    There’s plenty of blame to go around in this case, and quite a bit of it belongs with the Ware family. I think we’re dong a disservice to the entire community if we just focus there however.

  47. egpenet
    Posted February 19, 2007 at 6:47 pm | Permalink

    The focus is on ALL family … and gratefully, mine.

  48. whatever
    Posted June 7, 2008 at 11:51 pm | Permalink

    who really gives a shit. This is just a reminder of what’s so fucked up about Ypsilanti along with another city called Detroit. Maybe the fucker shouldn’t have been dealing drugs and being a thug.

  49. egpenet
    Posted June 8, 2008 at 11:09 am | Permalink

    I give a shit! Our families need to focus within and demand better from family members and support those family members in need of whatever support. Once we lose a famly member into “the system” it is very hard to get them back.

    The “corner” chews up a lot of our folks. And it’s too damn bad.

    I told that to the family when I facilitated a discussion about it. The whole thing is awfull for everyone, involved or not. It hurts us all.

  50. Posted June 8, 2008 at 9:43 pm | Permalink

    Amen eg!

  51. whatever
    Posted June 8, 2008 at 10:37 pm | Permalink

    I think the system has nothing to do with these fuckers demise. There is nothing holding these assholes back from having productive lives just like the rest of us, they just choose not to accept it. I believe schools are public and education is free yes? Jobs are still available to earn a wage and provide for oneself right? It’s not like where in the midst of great depression and one has to sell drugs to provide for ones family to survive. These fuckers just choose the lazy way of life. They’re not handicapped or mentally unstable, just rather sell drugs to make a buck without using their brains or busting there backs. I see a lot them quite often, and in close contact enough to know they’re out there, and let me tell you it’s not the “system” to blame. The “system” gives them every opportunity to make something of theirselves and in some cases takes care of them when they don’t. so when i hear of some asshole selling drugs in my back yard and a good outstanding cop kills him in a drug bust gone wrong, i have no sympathy. I’m here to raise my children to become productive citizens and rid my town of scum bags. Excuse me if I have little tolerance for these people, but it’s there own damn faults for not having common sense not to be fuck ups.

  52. egpenet
    Posted June 8, 2008 at 10:52 pm | Permalink

    Of course, not. I agree with you that there’s no “system” as you out it … etc.

    The “system” I am referring to is the one that catches us when we do wrong and locks us up in paperwork, prison, parole and social work. Once you’re in THAT “system” there’s no easy exit. And so the BEST way to deal with it, Brother Whatever, is to play it … same way someone plays Ford or GM on the line … or plays the military when you’re in the service … or how someone plays the sports contract game.

    If you grow up on the corner, you play the corner. If you grow up in Grosse Pointe, you play that game. If you grow up mixed up and feeling entitled to be king of the Congo, you end up like Amin or Kwame. It’s all about playing your best game in “the game” … or whatever.

  53. whatever
    Posted June 8, 2008 at 11:40 pm | Permalink

    ok, i see what you’re getting at, a Kennedy would never become a bag boy at the sack ‘n’ save, and a boy growing up in the hood would never become president of the united states. Perhaps I’ve been a little harsh considering the fate of David Ware. Now don’t get me wrong, I believe in second chances, though regretfully he did not have one, and I feel sorry for the family for their love loss. However, I oppose the blaming the “man” for any outcome they may face. There are cases where a cop has a judgment error, but really, is he or she to blame? He’s the one doing the right thing, risking his life to protect the rest of us against people doing what they know is wrong. But going Back to growing up in the wrong environment,I think there’s a time when people should have common sense to know when the life they have been giving doesn’t have to sum up their future. I could tell you first hand what goes on in certain places of this earth that we all could wish we change. I could imagine how one growing up in these places would have a hard believing there is mush more out there, but that’s why we have teachers, churches and other people to reach out to them and change their way of lives and let them know their futures could be brighter than what it really is. However, some people just choose not to accept what is out there and continue to become a burden to those who do. so it’s really these people i have no sympathy for. at some point in there life, you’d think they’d think to their selves and say ” is this really what life is all about?”

  54. egpenet
    Posted June 9, 2008 at 7:46 am | Permalink

    That’s more like it.

    You play the cards you’re dealt. To me, a lot of life is simply sheer luck. But a lot can be learned about when to hold and when to fold.

    But if you get a bad hand and play it badly in this environment … with extremely harsh mandatory sentences … you are drafted into the orange jumpsuit crowd (no matter your skin color or level of education). The smart ones go with th flow and wisely reinvent themselves from being “poor me’s” to being “wise guys.”

    When they get out … they don’t go back to school … they simply continue to think that this is where they belong and the culture supports that with social services, parole, loss of voting rights, job issues. So, the family might welcome you home (for a while) but you go back to the corner again.

    And the cycle continues. With luck … it’s the big time. With luck you make it past 30. With luck … etc.

    The system sucks. And this cycle needs to be broken. Cops and judges I know HATE this. They know the families and people involved by name and see this spiral in nearly every case. Aside from mental illness or a sudden economic shock in a family … this is usually the way it goes. Some escape it … with luck and a strong family. Most get sucked right in.

    You’re right. It’s too easy. Beats going to school. Beats working hard. Easy money. And if you’re going to be dead by 25-30 .. what the heck?

    As they say … “Whatever.”

  55. I hate thugs
    Posted June 10, 2008 at 3:11 pm | Permalink

    what about Nathaniel Abraham? Who should we blame for this young man’s fuck up? The state that spent ten years trying to rehabilitate his punk ass? This asshole got his second chance on a silver platter and still decided to be a thug. so fuck him and every other hood rat that wants to be thug.

  56. egpenet
    Posted June 10, 2008 at 3:41 pm | Permalink

    Like I said … once you’re in the (penal) “system,” no matter what side of the bars you are on, you become food for the “system,” you yearn to be “in” the “system,” the “system” takes care of you, and do you whatever the “system” needs to grow … whether you wear orange or a black robe … it takes two to tango. Who wants to rehabilitate when there is a “system” to “game.”

  57. Mike doesn't have a clever name
    Posted June 10, 2008 at 3:59 pm | Permalink

    Can we legalize drugs yet? I don’t think anyone at the brewery carries a gun…

  58. Brackache
    Posted June 10, 2008 at 4:01 pm | Permalink

    Aha, a whole thread on who David Ware was. No wonder I was out of the loop.

    I have to say, I’m a huge fan of defensive shooting, but uh… if a private citizen had shot David in the back while he was running away and he was unarmed, no way would he get away with it in court unless the police used their discretion at the scene to not charge him in the first place.

    The rules are: you have to be the innocent victem of an imminant threat of death or grievous bodily harm to legally kill someone in self defense. Or you have to at least convince a jury that such was the case. It’s hard to convince a jury of that if the guy was unarmed and running away, and you had other armed guys with you on your side… unless you have a badge and a uniform, in which case it becomes okay because you are a superior life form and your job is hard.

    I am totally okay with the shooter not being charged with killing an unlikable who did not pose an immediate threat to him, provided I can get away with offing a few people I think are bad for society who aren’t an immediate threat to me and not get charged for it. Fair’s fair.

  59. egpenet
    Posted June 10, 2008 at 4:01 pm | Permalink

    Most drugs ARE legal. Just go to any doctor and complain about your depression or your anxiety. He’ll load you up.

  60. I hate thugs
    Posted June 10, 2008 at 4:11 pm | Permalink

    perhaps there’s a small percentage that want to be taken off to jail so they can be taken care but there’s a lot of assholes out there that know right from wrong, yet they just don’t give a damn. You can look to blame someone other than the folks that commit the crimes for their behavior problems all you want. If you wanna be soft on criminals and give them a pillow to cry on because somehow growing up, momma or daddy didn’t teach them the right things, so now they have to kill, sell drugs and pollute the towns people try to take pride in go ahead. Criminal Lover.

  61. Brackache
    Posted June 10, 2008 at 6:17 pm | Permalink

    I hate thugs: it is perfectly just to shoot and kill someone to save your own life or someone else’s life, BUT, in order to hold up in court, the threat must be real (a deadly weapon, or outnumbering you, or the like), it must be imminant (happening right now), and you have to be innocent (i.e.: you didn’t deliberately provoke him by calling his mama a whore and grabbing his wife’s ass just so you could shoot him). If the dude who almost got run over had shot and killed the driver, it probably would have fallen into the justifiable, legal defensive shooting category. Shooting a guy in the back who is running away and unarmed does not.

    The people who bought the drugs he was selling are responsible for themselves doing drugs. They shouldn’t have bought them if they didn’t want to become addicted or stoned or whatever. It’s not like false advertising is involved; everyone knows what crack do. I’m all about personal responsibility myself.

    Also, crack is de facto legal already, despite your useless, expensive, Constitution-shredding “war on drugs.” Don’t make OEC come in here and tell you what de facto means, all up in your face. Maybe folks should think about that before they go around enforcing tyrannical prohibitionary laws that, as I understand it, violate the highest law of the land by the very fact that it never gave Congress the authority to pass said laws in the first place without being ammended first. (I concede that I’m not sure that said crack-control laws are even Federal, so ignore me on that point if I’m wrong because of my ignorance).

  62. Unknown
    Posted June 22, 2008 at 8:43 pm | Permalink

    What does whether or not David’s family knew of what he was doing have to do with anything? Lets stick to the facts. He was an unarmed man running away from a police officer that at the time, he did not even know was a police officer. How is it okay for the police to use deadly force shooting an unarmed man not once but three times, and one of those shots being in the back? The question of whether or not he was a good father the answer is yes but now that his life has been taken he no longer has the opportunity to be the father that he was.His children being born out of wedlock has nothing to do with anything, that does not make them worth any less than anyone else he loved them and more importantly they loved there father.

  63. kevin
    Posted July 4, 2015 at 12:38 am | Permalink

    David was a good friend of mine and almost my brother in-law. He did so many good things but the media put him out there to be this monster when the reality was He was very funny and a loving family orientated guy. When I first found out about what happened being a Bible Scholar, I immediately thought “wow”…Uriah who David in the Bible had placed on the front line to get killed for the hand of his wife Beersheba. Although this had NOTHING to do with this situation the Irony of it all is that the real DAWEED in the Bible was/is a so-called Black Man (HEBREW ISRAELITE) and “the fake jew” killed my brother THE REAL JEW ! R.I.P DAWEED

  64. Eugene ware
    Posted February 26, 2018 at 4:02 pm | Permalink

    Everyone is saying drug dealer this drug dealer that o look at all the people lives that a ruined by drugs but fail to realize everyone has to provide someway and some people got it harder than others besides it’s not his fault these people come to him for drugs he didn’t force them to use drugs it’s their own decision therefore it’s their fault they ruined their own live all I have to say.. Rest easy dad

  65. Tony Bouttavong
    Posted August 7, 2020 at 3:12 am | Permalink

    Alethia Ware was my co-worker and friend when we worked together at the University of Michigan. I miss her. I am now living in Vientiane, Laos.

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