A man who has been convicted of making threatening calls to immigration rights group CASA has apologized to the group and has blamed misinformation he received at a Republican meeting as one of the reasons why he made the phone calls.
According the the DC Examiner,
Flanked by several members of CASA, his father, who is in a wheelchair, and some Hispanic would-be workers, Wesley James Queen II made his apology in a basement room of CASA’s worker’s center in Langley Park.
Queen pleaded guilty to making threatening phone calls and entered into a plea agreement earlier this month. He is set to be sentenced in July.
He said a number of factors led him to making the calls in May 2008.
“The combination of personal stresses, misinformation that was received during a Republican meeting that I attended, and myself not taking my bipolar medication were all parts of what led up to the threatening phone calls,” Queen said, reading from a statement.
Maryland Republican Party Executive Director Justin Ready said he didn’t know Queen and had “no idea” what meeting he was talking about.
“The Republican Party does not condone or encourage violence of any kind toward groups or individuals,” he said.
Queen refused to answer any questions after his statement, referring reporters to his lawyer, who could not be reached immediately for comment.
CASA spokesman Mario Quiroz, who received one of Queen’s threatening phone calls, said he spoke in support of Queen during his plea hearing and plans on speaking again during sentencing.
“What we have been saying is that … we believe that he’s really aware of the damage that he made and all the troubles that he brought,” Quiroz said, adding that he doesn’t believe Queen is trying to make amends with the group to receive a lighter sentence.
“In my heart, I believe he’s truly sincere,” Quiroz said.
CASA officials, who promoted Wednesday’s news conference with a news release saying Queen had been “motivated by attending a meeting where elected officials disparaged CASA and the immigrant community,” had few details about the meeting, who attended or what was said.
CASA officials and supporters said the purpose of Wednesday’s news conference wasn’t to disparage the Republican Party, but rather to showcase the reconciliation between Queen and CASA and to draw attention to the consequences of the “hate language” directed at the immigrant community used by some politicians and some members of the media
While a firm believer in people taking personal responsibility for their own behavior, one has to always be mindful that words can set off unacceptable behaviors amongst those who are not stabile. Perhaps this is what Mrs. Napolitano meant when she spoke about extremists last week.
DISCLAIMER: It is important to note that Anti-bvbl is NOT implying that the Republican Party is culpable for this man’s behavior. The objectives for examining this story are to discuss how words can set off unintended consequences. Additionally, there has been much rancor over the DHS warnings about left and right extremist groups. This story does lend some credence to the department’s warning.
A friend sent me this, not that it will matter to some of you, of a better time in the US that we have all lost as a result of radicalism in America by fringe groups and factions. The only good thing that came past the 1960s in my mind were the civil rights changes in the law that made ALL americans equal under the law. Now we are all UN-EQUAL again, and according to f.a.c.t.i.o.n.s may the best militant ethnic or racial group win…I really oppose the law allowing such “racial, gender, ethnic, religious supremacist groups” to operate on our US soil.
http://objflicks.com/TakeMeBackToTheSixties.htm
Cool…brought back memories. I should also like to point out that I was actually a non-conformist of my so-called non-conformist generation back in the 60’s…I was a conservative. 🙂
I was a conservative too..the nation has been taken over by radicals…
Agreed.
AWC – I too had a comment stuck in moderation this morning. Seems to be a glitch in the software that is randomly putting a single comment by someone in moderation. I did not have any links to websites in that comment, so it wasn’t because of that. The fact it has happened to both you and me on the same day makes me think the software has gone a bit out to lunch.
Oh, I’m not reading anything into it Gainesville Resident…but it doesn’t mean that I can’t be annoyed. As I said, it was a very passionate statement, which may surprise some, and I even resorted to using the phrase which translates to bovine excrement and followed it with an exclamation mark.
Sorry about the moderation. I have no idea why it is happening and I will let Alanna know. She did make some changes to the blog and I am sure people getting snagged in moderation was not intended. Michael, AWC and Gainesville have all gotten hung up and I have no idea why.
AWC, I put up a disclaimer. It is no secret that extremists often find their way to special interest groups. Obviously this guy has some emotional problems. My point was: Words can set off unintended consequences. If I have offended anyone, sorry. That was not my intent. However, I am not offended by the DHS reports.
And trust me, I have been in a special interest group or 2 in my life. I didn’t much care for having to deal with the extremists who were on my own side either. They were often harder to deal with than the opposition. Only one I dealt with actually frightened me. The rest were just pitas and slightly embarrassing.
I have no doubt people with emotional problems end up in extremist groups or are attracted to things like hate speech, etc. That said, in this case I get back to it almost sounds like the whole thing was imagined by that person. Someone with bipolar issues, particularly when they are in the manic state, can really go off the deep end and convince themselves all kinds of things are true. I know because I once knew someone who was bipolar. That is why I get back to this whole thing may have been imagined on his part as to some meeting where he heard these things or was giving whatever information he thought he had.
As to the post in moderation – all mine had were a bunch of dollar amounts relating to property taxes, in the other thread below this one (2010 PW County Budget Approved). Maybe it didn’t like the dollar signs. It would be curious to find out what specific thing is triggering the software, as otherwise there was nothing remarkable about my post that got stuck in moderation (which is out of moderation now so is viewable there). The software is obviously keying off of something new – as now it seems 3 people’s posts have gotten in moderation in a very short time period.
Gainesville, it very well could have been imagined. Yet people with those kinds of problems are often drawn to special interest groups. I have seen it time and time again over the years. They need to fit in and they need a cause.
I actually thought that CASA was rather gracious about it, considering the guy had made a number of bomb threats. Again, I think this story is just one example of someone with emotional problems being drawn to a special interest group, in this case the guy went after immigrants and blamed the Republicans.
It could have just as easily been some disturbed person who went around making bomb threats to animal testing facilities or he could have broken in and turned all the animals loose. It wasn’t–THIS TIME. Maybe next time.
I have emailed Alanna go to on a hunt for whatever is sticking people in moderation. I went in and tried to find it but could not. Sorry guys. Only thing I can do is turn you lose if it happens.
Email me if I don’t know you are there.
[email protected]
@michael
“My outrage (similar to AWC’s) has been toward what has been happening in the US over not only the past 10 years, but the past 35 years.”
Actually Michael, I’m WELL aware of how far back much of this erosion of freedom goes, and alluded to it on my blog. The reason I continually use the last decade is because THAT is the time period where it has become most obvious…you would think, undeniably so. Even at that, so many people are still in denial. It’s all part of what I call the “dumbing down” of America.
On the moderation issue to me it isn’t a big deal now that I know it is a random thing. I momentarily freaked when I thought I really was in moderation, but my next post proved to me that I wasn’t. It’s more now my curiosity as to what in the software is keying off random words or something in some posts. All I can figure out with that specific post is the dollar symbol, and I might have used a percent sign there too. But it doesn’t sound like AWC’s post was that way. Anyway, now that I know what’s going on it isn’t a big deal to me, and my post was taken out of moderation pretty quickly anyway.
Bomb threats. This is another intimidation tactic. It reminds me of when some lunatic put Elena’s home address on the internet suggesting someone should pay her an unfriendly visit. This is the kind of abuse we face in today’s America if we dare to speak out on any issue that is essentially founded in hate and fear.
I have heard countless stories of this happening in Prince William County with regard to the immigration issue. People have received threatening emails, threatening things have been written on blogs. Even the Supervisors have received threatening phone calls. We are facing a problem in this country, and the fact that Prince William County has not addressed it causes me to worry about the rest of the nation failing in the same way.
Where’s the public apology from that woman who accused the police of beating her up? Remember, she resisted arrest, was pulled from the car, and then a bunch of her friends stages a small protest march in Manassas. Her silence tells all!
Alamo, have you gone off the deep end again? Even Greg Letiecq opposes police brutality.
SA, I don’t know what happened to that case/story. I would like to remind everyone that the Anti blog did NOT comment on it. There were too many missing facts and we didn’t want to hurl unfounded accusations at a police officer. I would also like to remind everyone that the dark screen did run a feature, on the side of the woman who accused the officer of beating her up.
SA, I agree with you (while reminding everyone the position taken by the ANTI blog–NONE.) I would like to know the outcome.
Michael, thanks for that enjoyable link. That was fun up til the end when I think it got a little preachy. I am not sure there really have been innocent generations in the 20th century. But it was a good listen with some good facts and memories in there.
I am not sure I agree with you about the erosion of freedom in the past 35 years. I look at prohibition. I look at the Great Depression, I look at forced segregation/Jim Crow laws. I look at MaCarthyism, I look at women having the right to vote only during the past 90 years. I look at Indian children being forced to give up their very own langugage. I look at Japanese-Americans losing homes and freedom…. I could probably go on half the night. I think it depends on whose ox is being gored or not gored. Perhaps freedom has shifted.
Thanks Poor Richard for the reading suggestion. I hope I can get to it.
Think about it Shelly, if the woman was in financial straights, and she had a legitimate case against the officer, then she could have sued the city and be living better than you and I. The ACLU and CASA would have set up shop in Manassas right there on Fernandez’s back yard! Seems to me she didn’t have a case. Sounds like another case of someone trying to work the system. It’s the new method of making a living, lawsuits.
Whatever did happen with Agueda Dominguez?
I hear that she speaks perfect English? Though she framed the story as though she couldn’t understand English? Has anyone heard anymore about this?
For those who are unaware, we here at anti never aligned ourselves with, nor took a position either for or against the ‘Manassas Park Police Brutality Case’. We don’t have any information on the specifics of this case. BVBL took up the cause against the police, perhaps your questions are best directed over there?
It is indisputable that there is a focus on latinos by anti-immigrant organizations.
As far as a few stray comments getting held-up in moderation, I don’t have an explanation at this point but will keep on eye on it.
I am guessing we will never know. I sure am not expecting to find the truth out on bvbl. He is too busy outting county employees by IP address for making casual remarks about his moodiness. (which have disappeared now)
MH,
I noticed the hypocrisy on BVBL hard at work yesterday. GL’s most recent post appeared at some point during the work day yesterday. I guess it is okay for HIM to post to his blog during the workday, but not okay for posters to do so? One would also assume that people who are posting on his blog that agree with him are also posting while they are at work, but they are not “outed”. Or, could it be, that he, himself, is the out of work IT professional he referenced? I haven’t seen him in traffic on 166 for a couple of weeks and I was regularly seeing his bumper sticker plastered vehicle on his way home from work a few months ago!
It sure seemed like an over-reaction to me.
Let me get this straight. The great Gospel Greg has gone from bullying and threatening to whining and tattling?
Maybe snarling and exposing fills the bill.
Ooops I meant ‘exposing others’ not ‘exposing.’ I wouldn’t want to start bad rumors.
My take on this is that the guy is a typical weasel. He blames the Republican Party. He blames it on not taking his medication (that seems to be a common problem). Listen to me, people. The fact that he blames it on the GOP or his medication is BULL!!! I couldn’t care less about the GOP.
What he needs to do is go by his neighborhood thrift store, buy himself a pair of pants, stand up, be a man and take responsibility for his actions.
Well, Guapo, that is one side we haven’t considered. I was all ready to have him declared a nut case. I still say we have to watch out for these types and that they try to latch on to groups because they also have to belong and feel that others think like they do.
I know Ms. Napolitano spoke of lone wolves….but I think there are more who want to run with the pack.
As a point of reference, people with bi-polar disorder are among the highest percentages of people with mental illness who do not take their medication consistently. The results can be disastrous. If this person has a history of taking meds off and on, I wouldn’t be surprised if that really were the underlying problem.
He might even have a history of similar episodes, but that wouldn’t come out in the public unless he wanted it to.
Hey! Swine Flue, anyone!!!
No thanks,Slow.
Anesthesia, this goes back to the other threat…we can’t have people going around making bomb threats. He either needs to get it under control or live in a much more restricted environment than he does now.
I guess I am one of those people who feels if the person cannot fully function then they need to be protected from themselves and we need to be protected from them.
Moon Howler, I agree he needs to get this under control obviously. He probably needs to be under more observation at the very least. Bi-polar patients can be a danger to themselves and others if they are not on medication.
My point was to emphasize that if he was in a manic state, he would not be in control of his actions. This refutes the idea that he can pull himself up by his bootstraps and take responsibility. The only thing he could have taken more responsibility with is trying to get more help when he was in a non-manic or depressive state. But many people with serious mental illness think they are not ill. Others know there is something wrong with them but they don’t know what.
Slow, YES, thanks.
http://www.who.int/csr/don/2009_04_24/en/index.html
There is NO vaccine for swine flu, and this particular strain is resistant to two out of three antiviral drugs. And, as we all know, viruses tend to mutate. It is a contagious virus that spreads from human to human.
and, further:
http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/investigation.htm
So yes, Slow, it should be a HUGE concern. But since this administration has given signals via its DHS secretary that it has no real intention of stepping up efforts to limit the flow of illegal immigrants from Mexico into this country, I suppose we could just wait for the virus to mutate and spread. Then I suppose at least you won’t hear any complaints about neighborhood overcrowding.
And before the nitpickers start typing, I just want to clarify that I took the bait from Slow to actually confront this topic, hence the “yes, thanks.” NO, I do not want an epidemic.
I don’t think anyone wants an epidemic. Thanks for bringing in the information, Emma. And it is cause for alarm. I am more concerned over it than I am measles, that’s for sure. Of course I am immune to measles (she said selfishly).
I suspect most people have been inoculated, which does seem to make it less likely measles will spread.
The U.S. also has fairly good treatments for pneumonia. Third world countries will be more at risk than the U.S.
Please do not get me wrong. I am not saying there should be no concern or that immigration of any kind doesn’t exacerbate this situation.
I am saying, however, that we need not spread paranoia and/or more “dirty Mexicans” attitudes.
Anesthesia said:
I am saying, however, that we need not spread paranoia and/or more “dirty Mexicans” attitudes.
And thank you for saying that! I manage a large number of people and pandemic flu has been on my radar for several years now. The Fairfax County website has a ton of information on it and guidance on how to deal with it should it affect our area. The CDC has been worried about a flu pandemic for quite some time…it could originate anywhere…not just Mexico or other under developed countries…and it will more likely spread with travelers in general…not “illegals” or “scum” or whatever other nasty terms some will use to make the case for less immigration.
My sister just told me about this today, she live in San Jose. There have been reported cases here of swine flu, eight, and all have recovered. That is not to say the CDC should be engaged with Mexico to deal with this issue, but before people start stock piling their canned goods, lets wait for some more facts shall we.
SARS was coming out of China and they attempted to hide it as I recall. I remember people being terrified of Asians at the time, unfairly so I might add!
Elena, remember the other night on the Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler movie, how Jews were blamed for typhus? I don’t see any difference in that and blaming the Asians for SARS or Mexicans for swine flu. All are a result of microbes!
Elena, that is exactly the problem, that healthy adults have been infected and become sick. Even though they have recovered, WHO is very concerned because that is not the normal demographic for flu, which normally predominates with children and the elderly. Hence the increased concern for a pandemic situation and another way that our lax borders can harm us.
Sorry, but pandemics aren’t politically correct, Twinad. And this is not about “dirty Mexicans,” it’s about epidemiology, a topic about which I have extensive knowledge. Has anyone tried to enter Venezuela lately? You won’t make it through customs if you can’t prove that you’ve had MMR vaccine or postiive immune titer. Did they suddenly become racist, redneck xenophobes? Or could they possibly be trying to prevent a pandemic?
And the news keeps getting worse:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/25/AR2009042501335.html?hpid=topnews
And we need to look at it as microbes rather than scapegoating. It bears watching closely and doing what the experts tell us to do.
Emma, it is real hard to not think there is going to be someone, somewhere who doesn’t try to blame some of this on immigrants like what happened with MRSA. I remember how Asians were treated with SARS.
Well, there are always stupid people, Moon-howler, and, like the poor, they will always be with us, won’t they? But that doesn’t mean you don’t take proactive measures to secure borders and protect public health.
I don’t recall immigrants being blamed for MRSA. As far as I know, MRSA is endemic in nursing homes–or just about anywhere where people are elderly or compromised in some way. If you were to take cultures from the noses of healthcare workers in hospitals, probably a good 80 percent of them would have MRSA present, just not affecting them because they are healthy. Again, that outbreak was unusual because it was hitting young, healthy people. Whenever you have that sort of anomaly, that is cause for concern. Allowing an uncontrolled influx of new residents to this country can bring strains of diseases that we are not prepared to deal with.
You can’t stop the pathogens without stopping the people. Just reality.