Sent to me from the dark screen:

DPortM said on 4 Aug 2009 at 7:29 am:

Sudley and Westgate Updates – Recent Filming in the Neighborhood
Eric Byler was in the trunk of a car driving around filming Westgate and Sudley neighborhoods on Sunday afternoon
Univision was back on the 9600 block of Lafayette in Westgate yesterday early evening filming the “taser” house and requesting interviews from the neighbors

How sad. DportM probably should have talked to Eric rather than ‘her friend’ to get the real story.

I have no idea about Univision. Guess they were out doing their own thing.
What they were doing is not my problem.

However, I did know Eric and and Jeff were in the ‘hood. I contacted Eric for his response to this rumor:

 

Yes, Jeff and I had set up the tripod in the trunk of the car to get a more steady shot. We were shooting what is called B-roll for the feature length version of 9500 Liberty. Some shots need to be done over because a feature film requires a certain level of production value.

There were some shaky camera shots during a scene about MS-13 graffiti. One was of Sudley Elementary School and the other was of the church next door. Since it w as going well, we shot another street as well and passed by Patty from Help Save Manassas.

Then things really got interesting, apparently.

When the police officer approached us, he told us that a woman had called and said a “dark haired man” was scoping out the neighborhood. I just laughed and said, “Oh, that’s just Patty. She knows who we are. She’s just trying to harass us.” The officer seemed to understand immediately. He asked if she is the woman who is always calling them about all sorts of things. I said I didn’t know.

I gave the officer my card and told him about the film. I explained how I’ve known Patty for two years as one of the most devoted members of Help Save Manassas. We talked about the attack on Chief Deane. During this time I asked Jeff to set up the tripod and get a shot. We had actually been hoping to spot a police cruiser in order to get some B-roll for another scene.

Then another cruiser pulled up. I said, “Two cruisers?” And he said that he had shared the report over CB with a fellow officer in the area. The second officer did not seem pleased to learn the 911 call had essentially been a prank. Then the rain started and we said goodbye. In the meanwhile, Jeff got a really great shot that I have already added to the film.

Eric


www.9500Liberty.com

Several of us knew Eric and Jeff were in the neighborhood and had told him where various landmarks were. What a shame that valuable county resources had to be wasted by involving the police when no wrong-doing was taking place. Is it now illegal to shoot film? Would that ban be on video footage or digital cameras? It is time for some folks to stop using county resources for their personal vendetta. We can’t just call the police on people we do not like.

UPDATE:

I received the following from Eric yesterday.  I had decided not to post it.  On second thought, perhaps some clarification is needed since several readers want to overlook bad behavior of their friend and cast blame on Prince William County Police.  (Who could forget the trash talk about Chief Charlie Deane from the black velvets)

 

I really did not anticipate that anyone would be upset at the police officer for asking me what I knew about frequent calls from the area.

What happened was Jeff told me that Patty had reacted strongly to seeing us roll by. He said she had started following us on foot. I told him not to worry about it, but when a police cruiser approached me not five minutes later, I figured it had to be Patty that called.

After hearing the officer state the caller’s complaint, which did sound scary, I wanted the officer to know I was not a threat as quickly as possible. I said what came to my mind: that Patty must have called and that Patty knows who I am.

I interpreted the officer’s subsequent shift in demeanor, from mild concern to friendly professionalism, to mean that I had guessed correctly about the name of the caller. But another interpretation might be that he intuitively sensed I was not a threat. I think he probably asked me if the same person had also made other calls because I had seemed so certain about the identity of the latest call. I don’t know. But I can assure you that he meant no disrespect to Patty, Greg, or Help Save Manassas by asking.

The second officer did not characterize the call as a prank, just to be clear. That word choice was mine entirely, perhaps reflecting a recent experience where Patty was among a group of people who tried to disrupt me when I was filming. All of this is my interpretation, written in a hurry, and should not reflect poorly on anyone in the Prince William County Police Department. They were just doing their job.

114 Thoughts to “Dispelling Rumors in West Gate”

  1. Gainesville Resident

    Actually, IWK has a good point – how do we know there wasn’t more than one person calling into the police about this? I know if I saw someone who I’ve never seen around the neighborhood – riding around in a car filming things, I might be tempted to call the police too.

    Also, the statement that the police officer called a 2nd police officer in is interesting. For one thing, I don’t think police officers use “CB” (Citizen’s Band). They would use the police frequency. I haven’t heard the term CB in years actually – it once was very popular but now has long since faded into obscurity. I find it strange that the police would have CB radios in their cars these days. So that part doesn’t ring true either. The police frequency is a very different part of the radio frequency spectrum than citizen’s band, and would require separate radio and antenna on the car. It just doesn’t make sense. I can’t picture the police referring to their radio as CB either.

    The more I read things carefully, the less believable some elements of the story become.

  2. Moon-howler

    Eric wasn’t filming AT the school. He filmed in front of it where there had been grafitti, for about 30 seconds–as long as it takes going 10- miles per hour. It was a Sunday afternoon/evening. No kids were there. This is summer vacation.

    Let’s have the same set of rules for all people.

  3. @Gainesville Resident
    “Still, even if Eric “knows who all the players are”, he doesn’t know if they often call the police! Also, how does the officer know that “Eric knows who all the players are”.”

    I am quite sure Eric knows who calls the police 🙂 And I bet the officer knows who Eric is and what Eric knows, especially if Eric is making FOIA requests. I’m just guessing here, GR, not really arguing with you.

    MH, good point about school being out. Still, it might help Eric and his crew to have film crew ID so people don’t get freaked out. Just an idea.

  4. Censored bybvbl

    I think many neighborhoods have their share of crackpots and ,sooner or later, the police get to know them. They call on each other as well as their political adversaries. My dad was a federal agent who covered a large territory and he knew who the crackpots were. I’m sure the local police do as well. I can imagine an officer saying,”was it so and so?” because sometimes “so and so” is responsible for a huge percentage of calls in a particular neighborhood – many or most of them unfounded. I’ll bet zoning inspectors and neighborhood services inspectors routinely hear from the same crackpots. Sometimes I”ll bet the officers are embarrassed to have to explain the reason they’re there to the person complained about.

  5. IWK Manassas

    Didn’t know it was a Sunday, that’s the first I’d read of that. Really don’t mean to quibble, but even though this is summer vacation, kids do play on playgrounds on Sundays. Weekends are actually when working moms and dads usually have time to take the kids to the playground. Even if you’re driving by at 10 mph, that actually could look odd to someone who isn’t aware of Eric’s project too.

    Bottom line, I hope he got the footage he needed and wish the guy well with his project. Just don’t want to automatically assume someone is out to get him when there could be other people involved in the 911 call for reasons that are perfectly innocent.

  6. Emma

    I’m not taking sides here, but even if “Patty” were the looniest, most annoying, tattletaling PIA in the neighborhood, that doesn’t give a cop the right to make what seemed like a disparaging comment about how often she calls. He can save those kinds of comments for his coworkers when they’re sitting around the station de-stressing, not for her fellow citizens.

    Did I understand that “Patty” is an HSM member? Is that why she is completely undeserving of respect and discretion by our public servants? Yet there were a lot of negative assumptions here about the officer who responded to the Lafayette noise complaints. Apparently they were expected to walk on eggshells for that family. What’s the difference?

  7. Moon-howler

    Pinko, they had credentials. If they had blow up ones it would not have changed the outcome of this situation.

    There is a reason that people with like prsonality qualities hang out together. We are speaking black velvets here. There are 2 sets of rules. One for us and one for them. I hope everyone understands subtleties.

  8. Second-Alamo

    Through out all of the above posts it is being assumed who this ‘Patty’ person is. Nowhere has anyone proven that Eric’s assumption about the person who called is correct, and yet the beat goes on. I’ve been reminded many times with the phrase ‘but how do you know they’re illegal’, and so ‘how do you know it was Patty?’ (whoever Patty is).

  9. Emma

    If Eric says it is so, it must be so. He is the single most unbiased journalist I have ever seen. He even wrote his own Wikipedia entry so he could make absolutely sure it was entirely objective.

    [ED NOTE: This remark is unsubstantiated and to the knowledge of the admin here, is NOT true.]

  10. ShellyB

    Gainesville, there was one Tuesday when Greg Letiecq went before the BOCS and told them that he and his followers would take the law into their own hands unless the Immigration Resolution was restored to pre-neutering “glory.” Around that time Greg dressed up in a pseudo-military uniform and went after day laborers screaming at them. The laborers were frightened so much that they called the police. That’s right, men who were most likely undocumented were disturbed enough by a screaming bald man in cammies that they called the police.

    The Gospel One then got pulled over and while still in full cammies threatened the police officer with a law suit. He wrote on his blog that next time he would bring a gun and patrol the day laborers that way. But instead he brought his Lady Deputies of the Red Circle.

    Needless to say, the police force is well aware of this bunch. Vigilantes are taken very seriously in all police departments.

  11. Moon-howler

    Yet there were a lot of negative assumptions here about the officer who responded to the Lafayette noise complaints. Apparently they were expected to walk on eggshells for that family. What’s the difference

    Wrong blog, Emma. No one disparaged the officer here to my knowledge. Please feel free to point it out if I am incorrect. We did not take a position on this blog.

  12. Moon-howler

    Emma, would you like to be invited to the next screening? That way you can meet Eric and evaluate him and his film based on your own knowledge rather than what you have read over on the dark screen.

    Now let’s think who I am going to believe, if I cannot determine something for myself—Greg? Eric? Track records in hand folks…who will she believe? This is a no brainer….

  13. Emma

    You’re right, Moon, the officer was not directly disparaged here, just the fact that he was called in the first place. I followed a couple other forums on this one, my bad.

    But the larger point is that a citizen should not be disparaged in any way by police. They need to remain respectful and neutral. If Eric is such a champion of the police as was stated in this thread, he didn’t do them any favors with the “Patty” story. It just makes them look unprofessional.

    Anyway, what does Greg have to do with this officer asking an inappropriate question? I’m not seeing the tie-in here to be able to answer your question about credibility between Greg and Eric. I’ve already accepted at face value that the officer asked the question, because Eric said so.

  14. Censored bybvbl

    Emma, please quote what the officer said that disparaged Patty. I don’t see it. The officer told Eric that he got a call. Eric said that that was just Patty. The officer asked if that was the woman who was always calling them about all sorts of things. Eric said he didn’t know.

    Seems to me that the officer was wondering if this was the person always calling about stuff. Thus, the neighborhood crackpot. My words, not the officer’s.

    I know some of you are just grasping at straws. It seems you’re looking for a way to make the officer look bad because he didn’t run Eric out of Westgate on a rail.

  15. An Ordinary Joe

    Censored, I don’t normally comment but taking the quote out of context is not helpful. Although the officer was not quoted in any of it, you seem to have forgotten he “seemed to understand immediately.” Almost everyone who “understands immediately” seems to always have a smile, a wink and a nod of the head.

    So, why are you making some jump into the motivations of people who are commenting here? and I am speaking of “you’re looking for a way” etc, etc.

  16. Moon-howler

    It is interesting to see the pre-disposed notions. I am rather amazed that people think it is ok to call the police on someone you don’t like…because they are in your neighorhood. That is getting just a little too fascist for me. I am all for calling the police on real things but this is ridiculous.

    Interesting how the human mind works. There are people who have decided they do not like Eric and Annabel because of their 9500 liberty film. I watched Emma introduce the concept of ‘disrespectful cop’ to deflect the issue. Then others jumped on the bandwagon. I see nothing disrespectful said. That is truly a reach. These same people would walk to the ends of the earth to defend Officer Crowley or the Taser Officers. Truly amazing. Great study of human and group behavior.

    Once a psych major, always a psych major I guess.

  17. Emma

    That’s quite a stretch,Moon-howler. I said very clearly that I wasn’t taking sides in this issue. The officers’ words jumped out at me immediately when I read the original post, however. I don’t know the whole story here. I don’t know if Eric was legitimately filming bits for his video or if he might have looked like a creeper out there with a big camera lens. We don’t even know who actually called the police, do we? I was only going by the words Eric presented, nothing more, and those words sounded unprofessional.

    Real-life example: Working in the hospital, taking care of two patients sharing a room, one of whom is on the call button every five minutes for trivial needs. I go to the room to determine which patient needs me. When the quiet patient looks up, do I say to him/her, “She calls every five minutes,” or do I maintain a professional demeanor and deal with the annoying patient the best I can? When you are in a “people” profession, your words matter.

    Whatever ulterior motivations some of you are trying to ascribe to me are entirely of your own fabrication. As long as we’re making things up, I suppose if “Patty” was Hispanic, and Greg was filming rather than Eric, there would be a lot of outrage over the officer’s callous words.

  18. Second-Alamo

    MH, are psych majors psy_chotic? ; )

  19. ShellyB

    Emma, I am not directing this at you per say. But what M-H is saying is, depending on who people support and who they are against, the police being caught in the middle seem to switch between hero and goat in a way that makes no sense.

    Chief Deane was universally respected in this county for decades then one day oh no wait he is a traitor because he wants his officers protected from getting sued for racial profiling. I never understood how people could just flip on a dime. Just because Gospel Greg told them to? Makes no sense.

    Now this crazy flip flop. Criticizing the police officer who arrested Prof. Gates was horrible. And criticizing the police in a news headline about the taser case was horrible, but oh wait the PWC police officer who asked a simple question is open season and called unprofessional? The flip flopping of this illogic is beyond comprehension.

    If it can flip flop this fast then next time the police force is deserving of respect again don’t try to tell us it is an unconditional respect. It is obviously conditional on who else is in the picture.

  20. Elena

    Thank you Shelly, a coherent and reasonable summary!

  21. GainesvilleResident

    ShellyB :Gainesville, there was one Tuesday when Greg Letiecq went before the BOCS and told them that he and his followers would take the law into their own hands unless the Immigration Resolution was restored to pre-neutering “glory.” Around that time Greg dressed up in a pseudo-military uniform and went after day laborers screaming at them. The laborers were frightened so much that they called the police. That’s right, men who were most likely undocumented were disturbed enough by a screaming bald man in cammies that they called the police.
    The Gospel One then got pulled over and while still in full cammies threatened the police officer with a law suit. He wrote on his blog that next time he would bring a gun and patrol the day laborers that way. But instead he brought his Lady Deputies of the Red Circle.
    Needless to say, the police force is well aware of this bunch. Vigilantes are taken very seriously in all police departments.

    I still fail to see what any of that has to do with whatever happened with calling the police on Eric. And, I’m not criticizing the police officer – I’m saying I somewhat doubt that’s what he said to Eric – as there are elements of the story (the “CB radio”) and asking someone who is not from that neighborhood about whether someone in that neighborhood frequently calls the police – those elements just don’t ring true to me.

    Meanwhile, ShellyB would like to twist statements around such that it appears I’m criticizing the police officer. If you’d reread what I’d written, I said that it shocked me the police officer would say such a thing, but then the more I analyzed things the more I doubted the officer ever said that.

    It is interesting how some people try to assign ulterior motives for what people post on here, that they disagree with. The post that says some poeple wanted the police to run Eric out on a rail proves that. I don’t think anyone here expected the police officer to do that, as Eric obviously wasn’t doing anything unlawful. However, that being said, I find his story of the encounter to not totally ring true, and it would not surprise me at all if he had an ulterior motive to paint someone he dislikes, and evidently has had encounters with, in a bad light. That seems much more likely to me, than the police asking someone not from that neighborhood, if some woman in that neighborhood often makes friviolous phone calls to the police.

    Then again, this is all just my opinion, and I never said I’m presenting fact. I don’t know Eric, and I don’t know this woman who made the phone call.

    I just think it is a little uncalled for here to assign ulterior motives to those who question exactly what happened. Well, I’m giving those posters a taste of their own medicine by assigning some ulterior motives to Eric. Watch the same posters who assigned ulterior motives to those who questioned Eric’s story, now take umbrage to my assigning ulterior motives to Eric!

  22. Emma

    Huge holes have been shot through Eric’s credibility here. Next time he wants to spread lies and call it ‘journalism,” I suggest he do his homework first, or at least report on something less easily verifiable.

  23. Censored bybvbl

    An Ordinary Joe, do you doubt that some neighborhoods have someone – or a couple someones – who are known to the police for making frivolous or frequent calls? Neighborhoods where there has been a lot of strife recently probably produce more calls. Neighborhoods and individuals are noticed when there is a clique of people who have criticized the Chief of Police, created a vocal new organization (HSM), spoken publically in support of the Immigration Resolution (which impacts the police department because of new training classes),and created confrontations with day laborers, etc. I’m sure all police officers are familiar with the players, and those officers who work that district are only more familiar with them.

    I made a comment on the motivations of a couple people because their comments can be predicted. One in particular can be reliably against anything Eric says – enough so that perhaps that person has been caught on film and wasn’t flattered by the footage.

    GR, I think “run out of town on a rail” is called “hyperbole”.
    I know you’ve related your problems with your old house. I think everyone would agree that loud noise through the walls in the middle of the night and a break-in are definitely things you should report to the police. Your overcrowding and trash issues were things that should have been reported as well. However, if you called the police nightly about noise – and I’m not saying that you did – and either the noisemakers saw the police approach and turned the racket down or they appeared to be willing to be arrested frequently, the police aren’t going to be able to solve your problem. You’re either going to have to decide to move, go to court with your neighbors, or hope your neighbors move. If you continue to call anyway and your neighbor, in retaliation, calls everytime you park your car an inch over the line, you will both get a reputation.

  24. Moon-howler

    I did my homework and that is what you need to consider.

    No huge holes have been shot in Eric’s credibility at all, regardless of what you say, Emma. Saying it doesn’t make it true. Frankly, your mind was made up before you got here.

    You have verified nothing. Pretty bold words for someone who knows none of the players, don’t you think?

    For the record, I don’t believe Eric would call his email to me journalism. I think he would call it email.

  25. Why doesn’t someone just FOIA the damn report so we can move on?

  26. Mando

    I’ll I’m going to add is how does anyone know the intent of the person that called the cops? It’s not like he was in a clearly marked news vehicle.

    I don’t know what Eric looks like, not that that’s relevant. But, if I saw someone suspicious in my neighborhood, depending on the circumstances, I’d either confront them or call the cops.

    Seems you guys are just pissed that it was Eric and the caller may have been someone you don’t like.

    I could see my fiance doing the same thing depending on the situation. First she’d probably call me then I’d tell her to call the cops. I mean, if some dude is filming my house from anywhere (trunk or passenger seat), for the safety of my home, I have to assume it’s for nefarious reasons. This isn’t Mayburry.

    The onus is on the person filming to tell me or the cops why he’s doing it.

  27. Sassafras

    @Posting As Pinko
    I bet the FOIA Queen already has made that request.

  28. Moon-howler

    Mando, do you really feel like you owe anyone an explanation why you are doing something legal? I sure don’t feel like I owe those kinds of explanations.

    The point of the thread is that certain individuals feel it is perfectly ok to use county resources to do their bidding, as though these resources were endless. These same individuals would be down whining in front of the BOCS to not raise their taxes.

    Had the individual in question not known who Eric was…maybe…a very weak maybe. However, this is not the case.

    Remember Margaret in Dennis the Menace?

  29. Moon-howler

    Sassafras, you are probably correct. And probably a big deal will be made over which phone number was used: emergency or non-emergency.

    I will continue to point out that county resources are being squandered over personal vendettas.

    And I guess the black velvets and red circles will continue to take their marching orders to come over here to try to redirect the issues with Bad Mr. Policeman who might have rolled his eyes, winked, clicked his tongue, ‘looked funny.’ etc.

  30. Mando

    “Mando, do you really feel like you owe anyone an explanation why you are doing something legal?”

    If you’re video taping my home, I’m going to ask why. If you say you don’t owe me an explanation then I’m going to ask you to leave. If you don’t leave, then we have a problem. I don’t want my fiance confronting anyone so I’d just tell her to call the cops depending on how she felt about the situation.

    If you’re just cruising down the street video taping many residences then you probably won’t get noticed and who cares.

    I’m not judging anyone. I’m just giving situations in which I feel confrontation is justified.

  31. Moon-howler

    I would agree with you, Mando, in your response. Of course anyone can stand out in front of my house and do pretty much anything they want as long as they don’t come on the property. Public street and all.

    I don’t have a problem when people call law enforcement. I have a problem when they call over stupid reasons: they don’t like the person. I sure am going to make sure I am going to speed limit when I go over in that area from now on. I have a feeling I am probably even more on the hate list than I already was.

  32. Censored bybvbl

    M-h, yeah, you’ve probably made their s-list. I hope all of the red circles- and their relatives – dot all their “i’s”, register all their vehicles, and observe the speed limit too.

  33. Censored bybvbl

    Chief Deane just held a news conference to dispel some of the recent MSM’s output. He relayed that there was a Spanish speaking officer on the scene early on, that the woman arrested was not pregnant, that the man arrested didn’t cooperate with the request to turn the music down and he cursed the officers. He resisted arrest and the woman tried to keep the man from being arrested and touched the officer. They both were tased once. There has been no evidence of any harm from the taser other than what a bee sting would do. If Chief Deane gets any new information, he will consider it, but that at this point, the officers acted properly.

  34. Censored bybvbl

    The above relates to the loud party and not to Eric – obviously.

  35. Rick Bentley

    “He even wrote his own Wikipedia entry so he could make absolutely sure it was entirely objective.”

    (LOL)

  36. Juturna

    Gee the longer I stay away the more the same it feels. Just checked the only two blogs I visit – ugh! After a month away one feels nit picky and the other vulgar…..

  37. Lafayette

    @Juturna
    Remember those bumper stickers..SSDD(same sh!t different day) 😉

  38. Emma

    “Dispelling Rumors in Westgate”

    seems more like

    “Spreading conjecture and lies so we can stick it to Greg and HSM”

    How could anyone possibly know the identity of the caller? The police officer apparently did not. And aren’t we supposed to believe that Eric was engaged in “journalism” (albeit sloppy) in Westgate, Moon-howler? That’s what he’s claiming. This whole thing reads like one big setup that backfired because Eric didn’t do his homework. I’m actually embarrassed FOR him.

  39. Emma

    “The second officer did not seem pleased to learn the 911 call had essentially been a prank.”

    Based on….what? Eric’s good word? If the police really are that immediately dismissive of a citizen’s concern after chatting up a possible suspect, then we all have some serious safety issues to worry about. So we’re to believe they just drove away believing that “Patty’s” calls should not be taken seriously?

  40. Censored bybvbl

    Come on, Emma, you’re obviously intelligent enough to know the difference between journalism and reshooting footage for a film. Why are you trying to confuse the two?

  41. Juturna

    You got it Laf. Greg is a loonie. Period. Patty, if it’s the one that I think she is, is a blind follower and just as loonie. I’ve read her posts.
    IF the officer made a negative remark to a citizen about another, he was wrong. Eric is probably jazzing it up for coverage.

    So folks – as Laf says. SSDD.

  42. Moon-howler

    Emma, I am embarrassed for you that you would continue to come back and try to fight about something you weren’t involved in with people you supposedly do not know. I am more also surprised that you feel it is ok for people to use the police to handle their likes and dislikes.

    I would give a gold monkey to see your face if I showed you the video of the harassment at the last tea party. There would be literally nothing you could say.

    You don’t know what the police said or did, or their tone, or if they winked, chuckled or rolled their eyes. You deliberately are picking at secondary issues and overlooking the some very negative wasteful behavior.

  43. Emma

    Well, neither do you, Moon-howler. And I never said police should be used to handle people’s likes and dislikes. I simply said that a lot of assumptions are being made about who the caller is, and that Eric’s story doesn’t add up. It’s a weak effort to smear whomever “Patty” is and somehow slap at HSM. And I am also surprised that you feel it is ok for a police officer to publicly dismiss another citizen’s concerns as a “prank.” It doesn’t add up, you know it doesn’t, but the Eric Byler Mutual Aid Society will stand by his story no matter how ridiculous it sounds.

    The videos mean no more to me than the taser-incident video, clipped and edited to show one side of a story. I’ve seen them all.

  44. Leila

    I find myself wondering why Emma seems so intent on calling Eric Byler a journalist. He’s a filmmaker (specifically director and screenwriter) and an activist. Neither is equivalent to a journalist and neither has the obligations a journalist would have. Most of Byler’s work in film hasn’t been in documentaries anyway. I don’t see any reason to doubt the explanation that he needed to reshoot footage, although I can see how his car technique might make some people nervous. But how is he acting in any way different than any other filmmaker reshooting footage?

    I also don’t doubt that Eric Byler knew it was Patty. But what I am wondering most is how Emma, a presumed longtime reader of BVBL, has never heard of Patty. I thought Patty and Patty’s vivid posts were famous!

  45. Moon-howler

    Getting weaker there Emma. You are running out of steam. The first grenade on this issue was lobbed on the dark screen, as though Eric were up to no good. I knew about it Sunday night as did others here who had been with Eric and Jeff. There was no reason to put it up on the dark screen other than people who frequent the dark screen always seem to want and need an ‘enemy.’ There was no need to even bring up that it happened. However, check the times for yourself.

    So its ok to take a shot at Eric, but if we point out the questionable behavior of one of the dark siders, then we are wrong? Get real. Actually, Eric was put in the position of having to justify his own behavior several times. Once to the police, and then again here when he was posted on the dark screen. Think about it Emma. How would you respond were it you?

    Actually, we are calling out continual bullying. But you missed that point. I understand I am now the object over on the dark screen. I guess they sure showed me! Bwaaaahahahahahah

    As far as videos go, there are just some things one cannot justify or explain away. Interesting, who said the officer dismissed the concerns as a prank?

    What do you have against Eric, by the way? Do you know him, have you seen his films? Have you had disagreements with him?

  46. Emma

    Hmmmm, Evil Emma at it again, even though most of what she said was echoed by GR and others on this thread.

    As far as “bullying”, Moon-howler, you evidently chose to ignore my defense of you over on the “dark screen” today. It wouldn’t fit with the image you want to paint of me, I guess, so I’m not surprised.

    As far as why I don’t know who “Patty” is, I’ve attended exactly two HSM meetings in my life, the last over a year ago, so I only actually know a couple of people there by name, and I follow the threads that interest me. And as far as the blogs, I’ve been following for maybe a year and a half–is that a “longtime reader”? Just curious, and just wondering why I’m supposed to answer for what people post over there. I’m not their mom, last I checked. And if you were honest about it, you would acknowledge that my opinions run a spectrum depending on the issue.

    And as far as who said the officer dismissed the concerns as a prank–well, Eric did–remember? “The second officer did not seem pleased to learn the 911 call had essentially been a prank.”

    I don’t know Eric peronally, don’t have a vendetta, but I do despise glaring contradictions, dishonesty and misrepresentations of citizens and their intentions. As someone mentioned earlier, I think he has done more to “scare” immigrants and divide the community than any resolution could have done, and it is entirely self-serving for him. Yes, I have seen his films. Otherwise I wouldn’t really have much of an opinion, would I?

  47. Elena

    Has anyone ever heard of a the “little boy who cried wolf”? Seems like this scenario fits perfectly. Someone from NW (neighborhood watch), as Allison, AKA DeptortM clearly stated on the dark screen, called the police about suspicious behavior of a dark haired man. As far as I understand, both Patty and Allison (NW members) live near where Eric was seen filming footage for the film. Both ladies know Eric well. As far as I know, the old adage hold true here….looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, it’s probably a duck. How many other NW members live in a house so close to where Eric was filming?

  48. Leila

    Emma, out of curiosity, which films of Byler’s have you seen? I didn’t notice any opinions on his work as a filmmaker other than discussion of 9500 Liberty in its proto-unfinished stage, but I may be forgetting a thread where you discussed the films of his that you have watched.

  49. anon-100

    I think I read that the “guy” was in the trunk of the car filming. There is a big difference in that and standing on the sidewalk filming. Does no one else find that a little suspisious?

  50. Moon-howler

    Emma, whatever you did to defend me, thank you. I don’t dark screen it and haven’t for a long time. My IP address is verbotten there. However, people do send me stuff.

    The latest I consider an extreme compliment. Someone thought I was NOVA scout. He is sort of a hero of mine. So the intended insult had quite the opposite affect. He is probably pretty raw about it though, considering in my wildest dreams, I couldn’t come close to his knowledge base, logic or writing ability.

    That story would have never been posted had such a big deal not been made on the dark screen of making Eric sound like he was doing something sleazy. That was dead wrong.

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