Montgomery County government initially kept quiet about the first two arson and vandalism attacks at Bethesda churches early Saturday, and County leaders have been slow to react to the third yesterday morning. County officials made no public announcement of several fires being set at North Bethesda United Methodist Church, and of the cemetery being vandalized at the Wildwood Baptist Church next door Saturday until late the next morning, about 10 hours after a third attack at St. Jane Frances de Chantal Catholic Church. Arson and property damage at St. Jane's was significant enough that Sunday Masses had to be relocated to a gymnasium.
Coverage of the church attacks by local media has not yet delved into why the public was not informed Saturday of the first attacks. No report I've seen so far challenges County leaders as to why they did not make the initial two attacks public until more than 24 hours later. Had they been announced, perhaps other houses of worship and the public could have been on heightened alert; there's no evidence Montgomery County itself stepped up protection of nearby churches, as the arson Sunday morning would seem to confirm.
County elected officials' reaction to the weekend church attacks has been slow, underwhelming or non-existent. County Councilmember Andrew Friedson (D), who represents the area where all three houses of worship were vandalized, did not weigh in on the matter until very late Sunday evening on Twitter. Councilmembers Will Jawando (D -At-Large) and Gabe Albornoz (D - At-Large) tweeted at about the same time late Sunday. So far, no County elected official has outlined any actions they are taking in response.
Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich (D) had still not issued a formal press release on the County website as of this writing, and had not commented on Twitter or Facebook. Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen (D) has been silent on the attacks, despite a media event this past March at which he said, "It is a sad sign of the times that we have to be protecting places of worship, but it is a reality of the times.” His colleague, Ben Cardin (D), hasn't spoken out, either. Congressman Jamie Raskin (D), who represents Bethesda, hasn't issued a press release or social media statement as of this hour.
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| No press release yet from Montgomery County police |
Attacks of this nature are hate crimes and acts of domestic terrorism. But as of this morning, there is no press release from Montgomery County police on these high-profile crimes.
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| No visible police patrols or presence were seen at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in downtown Bethesda on the "night of rage" two weeks ago, nor last night following this weekend's attacks at other Bethesda churches |
The tepid response by Montgomery County to these events is not new this summer. In the evening and early morning following the controversial Supreme Court decision two weeks ago, there was no visible sign of stepped-up patrols at any Catholic churches I went by in the County. That was despite a warning of a "night of rage" by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to parishes nationwide, which said domestic terror incidents could be expected at Catholic churches. That night - and last night, following the disturbing events of the weekend - there was no visible sign of law enforcement outside of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in downtown Bethesda.
32 comments:
I'm not sure what your point about Our Lady of Lourdes was. They chose not to have police outside. That's their decision. I'm a parishioner I should know. St Jane de Chantal has had police cars out front and will certainly continue now that they've been attacked
7:44: Churches certainly can choose about hiring security, but they do not determine whether or not on-duty police patrol around their property during a Homeland Security alert, or following known violence like we saw this weekend. I personally have not seen police cruisers outside of St. Jane's that I recall, and they clearly weren't there during the attack - despite the County knowing two churches up the road had been attacked 24 hours earlier.
So my point was, a lack of response by the county following two days of attacks. It's the only Catholic church in downtown Bethesda, so it would make sense to at least make a statement on behalf of the County that they are doing something by having a visible presence last night.
The attack was horrific at St. Jane de Chantal.
The lack of or slow condemnation by Elrich and our other local representatives is almost worse. They're signaling it's open season on Catholic churches and they're ok with that.
If feel like the attack is happening again everyday that they don't strongly condemn it. It should be easy to condemn.
It ties to allowing judges to be harassed at their homes.
Robert, there were not two churches up the road attacked 24 hours earlier. The attacks all happened at roughly the same time in the early morning hours of this past Sunday. The police have been in front of St. Jane de Chantal during each weekend mass for quite some time. The police have been great and responsive. It's the county leaders who predictably have been terrible and have failed to lead. No shock there.
10:58: The Methodist church fire alarm call was at 1:00 AM July 9, which was Saturday. That is a day prior to the St. Jane's attack.
And the police/fire investigators told the media they noticed the vandalism at the cemetery next door while on the Methodist Church call, which was Saturday morning.
All the media reports and MCFRS confirm the dates I reported are correct.
Importantly, no media outlet reported the Saturday attacks, and they were not announced to the public by the County, until I reported that there had been an arson report at NB Methodist a day earlier. Everything was about St. Jane's only until that point mid-Sunday morning.
No condemnation from Rep. Raskin yet. I see he is still tweeting about Cassidy Hutchinson. You can't make this stuff up. Read the room, Rep. Raskin
@8:46 "Horrific"? That seems excessive, since damages were described as "in excess of $50,000," (implying they were substantially less than, say, "$100,000,) and since all flames were extinguished within nine minutes of dispatch, and since no one was so much as injured, let alone killed. If this was "horrific," what adjectives best describe the deadly mass-shooting violence at churches and schools, grocery stores, shopping centers, and parades? I'm not saying this--or any-- crime of arson was a good or casual or insignificant thing, or to be either celebrated or dismissed, but when a one-alarm fire with a half dozen pews set alight is "horrific," there is less linguistic room left to describe those --all too frequent-- acts of criminal violence that shed blood and leave victims wounded and dead. Charred pews and smoke damage can be remediated; a dozen dead victims from a mass shooting can't.
Raskin is just a leftist hack who got slapped with an ethics complaint when his wife, who works for the Treasury and was a Biden nominee for the Feds top banking regulator, took a 1.5M payout from the reserve trust and failed to report it until 8-months later.
The attacks on churches, (IN HIS DISTRICT), doesn't fit his narrative of pursuing Trump and illustrates that he's just another political grifter out for himself and party power.
Raskin is a piece of crap with the worst hair plugs in history.
@12:04 Just because you don't agree with something doesn't make it wrong. Many find Rep. Raskin is doing a fine job in reading the room.
1:02: In addition, the tabernacle was desecrated, statues were damaged and the Stations of the Cross were ripped off the wall. There may not have been any injury or death, but there was a clear intent to defile, offend and terrorize on the basis of faith belief.
1:54 is part of the 30% that still thinks Brandon is doing a good job.
How about getting a representative who actually cares about his own district? Wasting time on the J6 committee while people are vandalizing churches, fuel is unaffordable to the working class and some people are choosing between rent and food is pathetic.
1:02 - you're so far off that I doubt it can be explained to you. All the sorts of crime you mentioned are horrific including this one. Ah, why even try?
A clear intent to "terrorize"? How does one respond to such an accusation? Your multiple posts in this thread suggest this incident may be closer to your heart than are most of the subjects about which you write, and I do not want to cause offense to your --or to anyone else's-- spiritual beliefs. But while these incidents may be found to have had such sinister intent, it seems equally plausible they were more in line with old-fashioned juvenile delinquency and traditional teen thuggery than in a concerted effort to actively terrorize.
North Bethesda Methodist Church Pastor Joye Jones, whose church was among those struck over the weekend, is quoted as saying, "most of it was what I would call mischief."
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/2-churches-vandalized-in-maryland-over-weekend/3097182/
Again, not to diminish the severity of the crimes --arson, be it attempted, partially, or fully successful-- is a felony for a reason. But absent more compelling evidence, it seems fair to withhold prejudicial narrative as " a clear intent to. . . terrorize." I believe for such to be so, the criminal act must be intended to: "(i) intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination or kidnapping."
https://www.aclu.org/other/how-usa-patriot-act-redefines-domestic-terrorism#:~:text=A%20person%20engages%20in%20domestic,by%20intimidation%20or%20coercion%3B%20or%20(
The quick and vigorous denunciations of Marc Elrich and Jamie Raskin could easily be mistaken for anti-Semitism, especially given the topic being discussed. I trust the posters who mentioned these politicians had no such malevolence in mind, despite appearances to the contrary.
To "7:00"...
No, the earlier denunciations of Elrich and Raskin have NOTHING to do with being antisemitic and I am confident in making that statement since I'm Jewish. Those two -- Particularly Raskin -- are pieces of @#$*&!
Raskin especially is a loathsome grifter.
NOTICE that Councilmember Friedson, of this district, was not criticized and he's Jewish as well (and not a whole lot better than Elrich or Raskin or any of the other council members) so that shoots your absurd antisemitism theory down. Try again.
6:53: I think the significance of desecrating the tabernacle - which may contain consecrated hosts that Catholics believe are the actual body of Christ - is striking at the heart of parishoners, an action beyond the pale. These sort of actions were threatened weeks ago, threats that were widely reported by the press. To then execute those actions only at 3 places of worship certainly was meant to intimidate and coerce a civilian population out of practicing their faith, expressing their beliefs and engaging in the political process.
I'm sure there's a lot of video of the suspects, traffic camera video of any vehicle they used, but here we are almost 48 hours after the last attack and no arrests have been made. And no questions are being asked by the press about the scandal of County officials trying to cover up the initial attacks. By Sunday, with services unable to be held in the church at St. Jane's, they had to divulge that one as parishoners would have by later in the morning. What was the motive in covering up Saturday's attacks?
Robert, spot on reply in reference to the post on the extent of the damage at St. Jane. No, as you indicate, thankfully no one was injured. But the damage is the most extensive of the three incidents by far. And it is horrific.
Man you must be so clever to use “Brandon” I swear these old conservatives are the smartest best educated around
Let's again play Devils advocate here and replace "Catholic Church" with "Mosque" (all houses of worship should be safe and free) and then what would the response have been? They would have been marching in the streets demanding justice and punishment blaming anyone else but themselves.
The leaders do not care about regular citizens; only special interests, unions, and virtue signaling with whoever shouts the loudest or gets the most press.
Vote for leaders who care about you and are beholden to you. Especially if you are a moderate Democrat; because let's face it; this current crop are not Democrats, they are Marxist leftists who have done nothing to enrich or better your lives; and in most cases have made it less safe and lower quality of life.
Even it that means a moderate or conservative; It's ok, we won't tell.
Robert, please provide evidence to support your allegation of a "coverup" by county officials. Please don't go MAGA paranoid. You are better than that.
Vandalism and thefts from Catholic churches aren't something new or Roe-related. Search Google and you'll find innumerable articles reporting such.
@7:48 As you are entitled to your opinion, so too am I. May you find peace to comfort your troubled countenance.
6:14: The evidence is in the article - there was no public announcement by Montgomery County of Saturday's attacks until long after Sunday's attack, about 34 hours of silence.
No conspiracy theory necessary; these are the facts.
Why did they not want it known what had happened early Saturday?
Very different response when it is a synagogue.
This was a terrorist attack on Catholics by any definition. It's an attempt to strike fear in churchgoers and clergy who have different beliefs. It's also an attempt to subvert the democratic process and the Judicial branch.
Our local representatives we're slow to condemn it and some still haven't (Congressman Raskin). Quite chilling if you're a Catholic at this time of increasing lawlessness. Interesting question: why not condemn it?
1:12, Why not condemn it? They only condemn political violence when it's conservatives/Republicans doing it. Jan 6, not months of BLM/Antifa destruction. These latest incidents were the Left's response to Dobbs and, as such, perfectly legitimate to the perpetrators and at least tolerable to the rest. They are hypocrites.
Sorry, Robert. Not greeting the dawn inveighing against the vandalism is insufficient to support an allegation of coverup, and you know it. Please believe I say this with utmost respect. I recognize I am a guest in your blog house, and that this topic in particular is a delicate one which you hold near. However, sometimes, people, especially public figures like a county politician, want to make sure they have the facts before they open their mouths. My money says that's why Elrich didn't meet your deadline. true, it may be that he's secretly in league with a cabal of anti-Catholic anarchists, bent of bringing the Church to its knees. On the other hand, he may be a mid-level politician who thought it judicious to have as many facts in hand as the situation allowed. Who knows, it may even be the police requested the first two incidents be downplayed because they thought it might better lure the person(s) responsible. Goodness knows, police have made some lousy tactical decisions before.
I'm neither a politician nor a police officer, so I don't know what actually is responsible for the delay in announcing before the cameras. But, --and again, I say this recognizing I am a guest in your virtual house-- you must admit you hold neither of those positions, either. If your sources can offer anything concrete --an email, Tweet, etc from someone in a position of authority that demonstrates their intent to hush things up, for example-- I'll not hesitate to admit the error of my ways. But failing actual evidence, a la "Marc, we need to keep the lid on this," you have demonstrated only that no statement was made. The mere fact of silence is evidence only of silence; not of a motivation explaining such.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
7:45: I would argue that the facts were known as of Saturday morning. There would have been no reason not to announce it then, to warn other churches and the public of these events. This is a situation where the more light on the matter, the less chance anyone would be able to pull off another attack.
I suspect a public information request may indeed show us evidence of this cover-up at a later time, but it already looks quite bad on the face of it.
Robert is correct in that what we currently know is enough to denounce these attacks regardless of political leanings.
As a representative for the community one is supposed to represent implies tacit approval or at the very least apathy for part of the constituency they don't necessarily agree with. No need for a smoking gun tweet or "hard evidence" as their supporters are saying because actions always speak louder than words.
I'm appalled someone dismissed this hateful act as 'juvenile delinquent" or teen thuggery'.
That's it, huh? Like you believe Sandy Burger stealing papers from the Archives was 'just sloppy.' You actually believe that?
We're doomed.
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