Chad Smith

Articles published in The Gainesville Sun

Quran burning raises fear of violence

Published August 26, 2010, in The Gainesville Sun

As he took the pulpit to deliver his sermon Sunday, Terry Jones acknowledged the potentially violent firestorm that has erupted in response to his church’s plans to burn copies of the Quran on Sept. 11.

“Anybody bring a gun to shoot us?” Jones asked, eliciting a smattering of laughs.

But some posting comments on jihadist websites are not laughing, vowing revenge against his church, the Dove World Outreach Center, which had about 30 attendees at its worship service Sunday.

“Now, I wish to bomb myself in this church as revenge for the sake of Allah’s talk,” wrote one person who identified himself as Abu Dujanah, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

As area law enforcement form their response, the reporting of Jones’ plans has gone international – from Mumbai to Melbourne, with some media outlets, including the Journal, describing Dove World as a Gainesville “mega-church.”

While city officials are concerned about the effect on Gainesville’s image, they say the more pressing matter is the potential for trouble.

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Underage drinking seems endless for police

Published November 10, 2007, in The Gainesville Sun

At a medical-themed private party at a downtown bar last month, fraternity men dressed as doctors and their dates dressed as nurses mingled, drinks in hand, when two Gainesville police officers moseyed in.

One officer carded a nurse, who put down her vodka and cranberry drink and pulled from her bra her driver’s license that showed she was 20, a few months shy of being legal. In handcuffs and high heels, with a white nurse’s cap still on her head, the University of Florida student was led to GPD’s downtown annex past crowds of bar-hoppers. One told the officers she was his stripper. Others just snickered.

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Student’s Tasering spurs march, sit-in

Published September 19, 2007, in The Gainesville Sun

While roughly 200 protesters grappled with the finer points of their protest and their message Tuesday – Which building should we march on next? Should we accept a meeting with a lowly university vice president? Should Taser guns be banned from the University of Florida campus? – there was one thing they all agreed on: Cops shouldn’t have Tasered Andrew Meyer.

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