A Sooner in Texas
11/19/2008, 06:11 PM
Guys, in case you get a text message about the lynching of a black man in Conroe, Texas - where I live - don't believe it. It's going across the nation and from what I've been able to find out is bogus.
In fact, here's a brief version of a story I'll have in my newspaper tomorrow:
Nationwide texts about Conroe lynching just a rumor, law enforcement says
By Nancy Flake
Updated: 11.19.08
A frenzy of text messages crossing the nation about a lynching of a black man in Conroe is nothing more than a rumor, law enforcement officials said.
The Courier received two phone calls about the rumors, one from a phone number with a Cleveland, Ohio, area code and another from a reporter with the KAKE TV station in Wichita, Kan. Both reported receiving text messages on their cell phones about a lynching.
“I got it from an individual,” KAKE reporter Chaulie Reynolds said Wednesday morning. “I showed it to my manager, and he said, ‘Investigate it.’”
Reynolds said he has not been able to substantiate the rumors.
Conroe Police Sgt. Bob Berry and Montgomery County Sheriff’s Lt. Dan Norris reported those law enforcement agencies have no information regarding a lynching and are not working on that type of case.
“Nobody has brought us credible information,” Berry said. The only calls he’s taken have been from news media, including a Houston TV station.
For more information, see Thursday’s Courier.
My full story will be posted on our website at www.thecourier-online.com late tonight or early tomorrow.
The text message seems to be about a black man being lynched over some sort of comments about Obama. It's craziness. Our county is probably the reddest in Texas, and there have been lynchings years ago, but hopefully no one would be that insane now.
In fact, here's a brief version of a story I'll have in my newspaper tomorrow:
Nationwide texts about Conroe lynching just a rumor, law enforcement says
By Nancy Flake
Updated: 11.19.08
A frenzy of text messages crossing the nation about a lynching of a black man in Conroe is nothing more than a rumor, law enforcement officials said.
The Courier received two phone calls about the rumors, one from a phone number with a Cleveland, Ohio, area code and another from a reporter with the KAKE TV station in Wichita, Kan. Both reported receiving text messages on their cell phones about a lynching.
“I got it from an individual,” KAKE reporter Chaulie Reynolds said Wednesday morning. “I showed it to my manager, and he said, ‘Investigate it.’”
Reynolds said he has not been able to substantiate the rumors.
Conroe Police Sgt. Bob Berry and Montgomery County Sheriff’s Lt. Dan Norris reported those law enforcement agencies have no information regarding a lynching and are not working on that type of case.
“Nobody has brought us credible information,” Berry said. The only calls he’s taken have been from news media, including a Houston TV station.
For more information, see Thursday’s Courier.
My full story will be posted on our website at www.thecourier-online.com late tonight or early tomorrow.
The text message seems to be about a black man being lynched over some sort of comments about Obama. It's craziness. Our county is probably the reddest in Texas, and there have been lynchings years ago, but hopefully no one would be that insane now.