KBUR reported of illegal fireworks going off near Circle K Gas Station as well as surrounding areas. Police were on scene filming each of the individuals who were responsible. It was reported that fireworks were being shot off both at people and vehicles.
Nearby residents photographed and filmed different areas of the scene before and after the fireworks were shut off. Broken glass was seen on the street as a street cleaner rolled around to clean up the mess.
On U.S. 34, a small fire ignited near the road as a result from firework use days before the fireworks incident on Maple.
Burlington Council member Tim Scott expressed on KBUR radio later in the week on the culprit's Facebook status that was provided to him at the city council meeting. He read the post that was made the day of the incident prior to fireworks being fired off.
The former Chicago resident now a Burlington resident reported to have a large amount of friends liking and commenting on the status making him an influence of the violence the night of the incident.
The Hawk Eye published information about Officer Dale Wyatt's administration paid leave for attempting to disrupt and steal someone's cell phone from recording. A video surfaced of the incident that prompted the Burlington Police Department to conduct an investigation.
Officer Dale Wyatt, a police officer from the Burlington Iowa Police Department, left his body camera turned off despite police regulations.
The camera is designed so when the button in the middle is pressed down, the camera automatically records. Seen through the video, Officer Dale Wyatt appears to not have his recorder turned on.
This could indicate that he didnt want he and his fellow officer's actions to be recorded and observed. Near the end of the video, he yanks the phone out of the victim's hands as an attempt to shut his first and fourth Amendment rights.
A video surfaced on YouTube on November 10th of two officers from the Burlington Iowa Police Department conducting illegal activities including police brutality.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckO8fplCWRM
The person recording the video is telling officers that one of the officers didn't issue a warrant nor answered of who he was. The man pointed to this officer who was suspected of causing the problem.
When Officer Dale Wyatt asked if there is a problem in the house, the man asked "If there was, does he need to announce a warrant, a name, a badge number." Officer Dale White replied, "No". Multiple times.
The man asked twice, "He does not?" Officer repeated the answer no to him. He then replied as he grabbed a hunk of brush and started crushing it in his hands, "Do you have all the legal knowledge? Look it up." The officer looked as though he was losing his patience and probably wanted to hurt the man recording him.
Officer Dale Wyatt then proceeds in mocking the man then gets into his face.
Officer Dale Wyatt then proceeds in stealing the man's phone and yanks it out of his hand.
According to the Burlington city website, Dale Wyatt was hired to the Burlington Police Department on March 29, 1999.
The Burlington City Council proposed an expensive method in protecting the City of Burlington's riverfront. They would like to have a flood wall to protect nearby businesses and the rest of the riverfront from future floods.
The Burlington City Council left one thing out: Where's the money going to come from?
The answer? Increase property taxes. Again. Property taxes have been increasing every year. That includes trash collection. What is suppose to be used in paying back the heavily-debt local economy is continuing to be used to pay for outrageous things.
In 2013, The Hawk Eye released information on multiple toxic entities the City of Burlington has been funding through taxpayers money for at least a decade. It was reported that these entities never made any profits. There were entities such as the Flint Hills Golf Course, the RecPlex, and similar government-sponsored businesses.
Around that time, there was a proposal of eliminating the city's BUS transportation and replacing it with the SEIBUS, a more expensive alternative for customers to travel to and fro throughout the city. After many complaints, the city council instead cut funding for the service. The service wasn't losing as much of the profits as the Rec Plex and the Flint Hills Golf Course which continues to drain more taxpayers dollars.
The Burlington City Council tried pushing for a 3% franchise fee without the public to vote on it. However, former mayor Tim Scott told the council to have the voters to vote whether to have it or not. On August 2013, the results came in as the majority of voters voted no on the proposal. http://www.kbur.com/2013/08/06/august-6th-special-election-results/
The Burlington City Council also forced a child and teenage center that was part of the community for more than two decades. Despite its low impact in hurting the city's profits, the council stopped funding it.
The city council's excuse to proposing to cut insignificant tax payer funded projects? "Its part of the budget plan". A budget plan to help large corporations achieve tax-funded projects that receive no profits that the city can help bring the economy up in the area. Although they have made very few small cuts in the big pork spending entities, they were insignificant enough to make a real impact.
In 2004, the City of Burlington decided to sue Burlington Northern Santa Fe. The reason? Because The City of Burlington council claimed it would bring back jobs and to give them money over a dispute in an agreement from the mid 1800's http://www.ble-t.org/pr/news/headline.asp?id=13731
Two years later, after wasting more than $2 million in taxpayers dollars, the City of Burlington lost the lawsuit. Of the more than $2 million dollars that were wasted, some $300,000 was spent for lawyer service for one year.
Around this time, the City of Burlington council also forced an entire area of individuals that lived in these WW2-era homes. Some were paid to leave while others were threatened, pushed around, and forced to leave. The reason behind all this? To build a mini mall by of a Minnesota-based company. After everyone was evicted and the homes were demolished, the Minnesota company withdrew their offer to buy and build something with the land.
Some years later, city council proposed about building a community garden full of fruits and vegetables that anyone can grow. It was later scrapped. Around 2010 or so, the city council proposed a voting system where the most votes goes to having their taxpayer dollars to fund the specific item on the list. One of the items listed was building a community youth center behind Walgreens where the Manor use to sit. The vote was later tallied and the community center didn't make the cut. Now a business wishes to build something there (which the city council had stopped the process from happening as of two years ago or so ago.) To this day, its nothing but trees, grass, and abandoned roads with some driveways that use to lead towards some of the homes.
The real issues the council faces is the tax-burden community, the lack of jobs in the area, and the increasing debt the council refuses to fix efficiently and effectively.
On Monday night, the Burlington City Council voted down the gun ordinance that was written up by Burlington Police Chief Doug Beaird.
The only person who voted favor of the ordinance was councilman Bob Fleming.
Before the vote was called for, Mayor Shane McCampbell stated that he was in favor of the ordinance during the meeting. He made multiple statements in previous meetings as well as television and phone interviews/broadcasts.
Mayor McCampbell denies that toy guns were to be part of the ordinance despite the wording that was made for the ordinance reading. He became very animated and angry during portions of the meeting due to the overwhelming emails, phone calls, and Facebook posts being made about him, the council, and the police chief. That includes about the mayor doing something unprofessional.
An editorial in The Hawk Eye discussed about the illegal misconduct each of the council members have been doing for violating the Iowa open meetings laws. They are believed to have been committing walking quorums. Its currently being looked into.
When someone spoke about Facebook-related content, Mayor McCampbell increased his anger and frustration towards the person(s) involved and stating that they are running their mouths. He even goes further into saying the person who posted something on Facebook isn't from Burlington and that he incites in a threatening message about dealing with him one on one.
He insists that its nothing more than propaganda and spreading of misinformation. Doug Beaird also agrees.
Here is the entire session of the ordinance discussion during Monday night's meeting.
The resolution for the voting as well as the numerous comments being made within the 40 minutes worth of discussion in relation to the ordinance was not covered by The Hawk Eye as well as KBUR. The only time the ordinance was mentioned was in The Hawk Eye. There was only a small blurb indicating that the ordinance was discussed at the meeting.
The resolution in regards of the ordinance may not be finished. It may be quietly being rewritten by the Burlington Police Chief. It may be likely the ordinance will return to a vote on an updated version.
KBUR didn't reveal the names in their article. They also didn't link the video of them walking on the river. In fact, they even had the image of the three of them removed. Luckily for me, it wasn't too hard to recover it.
This is the photo KBUR had used for their article. On the left is Conner Brockett, the middle is Preston Broeker, and the right is Luke Haviland.
The article was featured on their Facebook account however that post was deleted.
This is due to the person who was commenting was the camera man. He revealed the other two individuals who were involved with the stunt. Fortunately for me, I was able to screen grab some of the comments from him.
There you have it, folks. He and his two friends are using their max brain power to walk on potentially unstable ice in short sleeve shirts and shorts. Here's the video of them walking on the ice.
If you are not able to see the video, you may have to disable any ad and privacy blockers to view it.
Here are some photos and posts made by the individual who recorded and walked out on the river. The first photo shows them on the other side of the bridge. Its unclear whether they walked the entire distance from the other side on ice or on stable cement ground.
UPDATE: MAY 5, 2014 2:00 AM
Here are some Vines two of the three individuals posted. Videos provided.
Nelson-Chiprez, chairwoman of the Social Studies Department at BHS, and Chris Kyhl, a math teacher at the school, communicated with one another with derogatory content about students in their classrooms.
The conversation began on October 23rd. It began as follows:
Khyl: “Good lord, I hate my 4th period. Haha,”
Chiprez: “Me too! They suck (expletive).”
Chiprez: “Where are you? Your sub lost control in period 4. What the hell, I just took a stick out of one of your kids hands while he was running through the hall with it before class.”
Chiprez: “period 4 was (expletive) nuts. I had to go over there twice, (the sub) finally sent someone to (Responsible Thinking Classroom).”
Chiprez: “your kids are (expletive).”
Khyl: “God help me gonna smack some kids.”
Chiprez: “aaaammmeenn.”
Jane Evans had little to say about the incident but expressed that the two teachers are currently on administrative leave while an investigation is being conducted.
Officers were notified yesterday about a fight video circulating around the Burlington Community High School. Each of them were charged with disorderly conduct.
Four teenagers attacked one teenager by the means of bullying. In the video, it shows the kid being punched, kicked, pushed, and things being taken from him. Unconfirmed reports suggest that the fighting took place nearby the Burlington Community High School's administration building.
The video was originally uploaded on Facebook between November 2-3.
The video was handed to the local police department. The attackers were identified. The school district is requesting to prosecute them.
There had been some small talk on Facebook relating to some boats parked illegally both off and on the street.
The company that owns these boats that are parked illegally is Archer Auto Marine at 308 Division St.
One of the illegal parking laws that was violated is listed in the City Code. According to Burlington City Code 79.02, it states quote,
This means that if a vehicle is driving alongside the street in the right direction, any vehicle parked should be parked facing the direction they are heading. Not only this violates Burlington City Code, it also violates the Code of Iowa in Section 321.361.
In this photo taken in April 2013, it shows clearly that the boats are parked facing the wrong direction.
In this next photo, the boat parked on the left most of the image may also violate another city code law. It is found in the Burlington City Code, which is listed in Chapter 79.11.
The last park that states about no boat or boat trailer shall be parked on the public right-of-way within 25 feet of any street intersection. The boat clearly shows that its parked closer than 25 feet to the stop sign alongside the street of where its located.
Another thing to mention in this photo is the boats that are parked alongside of the street is parked technically on city property.
Not only parking like this is illegal, its also dangerous. By having the view blocked for the driver of the right-of-way on the street
This is a before image taken in 2009 before the boats were placed on this side of the street. Notice the location of the stopsign and the area down and around the sign.
Looking at the more current photo, you can notice the boat on the left most image is extremely close to the stop sign. This can be difficult for the driver to look on their right side to see what cars are coming through.
In this 2009 street view photo made by Google Earth, the angle that is presented is where the driver has to look before he/she would have to go either direction. This shot also shows that the boats are parked illegally by facing the wrong direction when parked.
In this angle, you can clearly see the blindspot the boat creates for the driver that is behind the stop sign in this part of the interaction since 2009.
Which then brings back this current photo of the same area. The boat that was farther down in the 2009 photo was brought up closer to the boat that has the blindspot. This makes conditions much worse for the driver to view and determine the best timing to move out of the general area.
It is not clear whether or not the company had violated any laws pertaining toward parking on the snow route while the city declares a snow-related emergency in which vehicles cannot be parked alongside streets with snow plowing signs.
Any accidents involved in this interaction due to these blindspots can result in a lawsuit toward Archer Auto Marine company.
Almost 20 minutes ago, a body was discovered and recovered from behind the address of 1205 Franklin St. There are unconfirmed reports of the victim dying as a result of multiple gunshot wounds.
The location of the house was nearby the Mt Pleasant Street viaduct.
I will update this when more information is available. UPDATE: 9:38 AM:
Here is a photo taken from the scene with an officer behind the yellow tape.
UPDATE 2: 9:50 AM
This is the property area where officers had discovered the body.
UPDATE 5: 8:47PM
A user on Facebook sent this image in their group page to show what is going on at the block during the time. The DCI van was parked next to the property the body was discovered. The left side of the van appears to have either someone or a empty black bag.
UPDATE 6: 9:01PM
KBURreleased information that the body has in fact a bullet wound.
UPDATE 9: June 27, 2013 2:53 PM:
KWQC News broadcasted briefly about the murderyesterdayon the 4:00 news.
Earlier today, I stumbled upon a comment on Facebook about a music video that was uploaded.
YouTube user BAM MUSIK uploaded the video last Friday. Since then, the video produced more than 4,700 views. The music video is called Blocka (B-Town) The video can be viewed through this link or through the embedded video attached to this blog post. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUIrUOdzwmo
The name of the raper is currently unknown.
EDIT: 6/22/2013: The DJ's name is DJ Boi Wonda.
The newly-made YouTube account lists a few sponsors that helped with the individual whom organized the music.
Inappropriate Content:
There is just so much bad content found in this video, I had to share some of the details I noticed while watching this video.
Even though the music video is called Block A, it could very well be a real drug-dealing apartment complex. What does Block A consist of?
A fairly easy access point.
A guard to check on who is coming in.
A crazy-looking man.....
who owns a handgun.....
who supplies and does cocaine.....
and has thousands of dollars (mostly 20's, 50's, and 100's)
Drug activity (pot and drinking whiskey).
Smoking pot and showing off some expensive rims.
Some sort of tattoo with the letter B stamped on there. Could be a gang tattoo.
Children posing in multiple shots.
Direct Location:
There were some places within the video that shared locations in which the video was made.
This one stood out to me not just because they are signs that show they are going into Burlington, but because they were moving into the town. In the title of the blog, I suggested that all, if not one, of the individuals were in fact from Chicago. The reason being is because of the previous video that was created last December in which shows aerial views of Chicago.
One of the first street signs shown in the video was the intersection streets of 400 South Central Ave. and 1100 Maple St.
This specific intersection is where one of the locations was depicted from the video. What's interesting is the fact that the gas station Circle K had a shooting incident earlier last year.
In the video, there were some images of guns, references of firing firearms, and making comments in firing such weapons. Perhaps they promote such activity as what had happened in Circle K.
Just down the street from that location is this place. I know very little about the building but it seems to be important for the individuals in the video to be doing their thing in front of the place.
I know some years ago, there was a building nearby the shoe shop that was considered as a bar. From what I heard, an individual was killed in that bar. If you were dressed in something they didn't like at the time, they would beat you up royally.
The final location shown in the video was 1100 Aetna St. and 2000 Summer St.
The location is basically behind Walgreens nearby Family Video.
What happens now?
Currently, there is no information being provided by The Hawk Eye about it. Its probably not well-known yet, seeing that the video hasn't spread much within the news media or social networks.
There may be a possibility of the Drug Task Force and the Burlington Police Department investigating this matter. If so, this could explain the silence The Hawk Eye is currently doing.
We'll wait and see what happens next.
EDIT: 6/22/2013:
The music video that was produced wasn't necessarily uniquely made. Some of the lyrics and tones from the music were altered. The original music it was based from was Blocka by the rapper Pusha-T. You can eitherclick the link to watch it or watch it through the embedded video on the blog. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfR00nu5xQw
Here are the lyrics to this song. Keep in mind that not all of the lyrics that come from this video is similar to the one produced in Burlington. Lyrics were found on http://rapgenius.com/Pusha-t-blocka-lyrics
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