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Beloved
Minister Wrongly Charged With Disorderly
Conduct,
Up-Date Below:
Pastor Dave Was Vindicated In The Obstruction
Trial For The
Disorderly Charge
Debra
J.M. Smith - 2009
www.InformingChristians.comPastor Dave Fogderud, 66, never
actually went beyond the point of addressing
the two teen-age boys that were skateboarding
at a Janesville, Wisconsin Burger King restaurant
on August 2, 2007. Pastor Dave is well known for
his 35 years of service in his community work with
homeless people, at-risk youth, people in addiction and
anyone else who is in need. According to one of the
more recent articles in a local paper about his
ministry, Pastor Dave is known as the "Minister Of the
Streets," still trying to reach the "down
trodden." Another current newspaper article
featured his church for keeping its doors open
around the clock, twenty-four hours a day during the
frigid cold weather so that anyone in need of warmth and
hot soup can go in at any time. His
ministry, The Overflowing Cup Total Life Center,
was scheduled to soon host its annual
Rock On The Rock music festival the first weekend in
August. --For Information on this ministry: Click Here
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In-Tune From Near Chicago
Illinois
Pastor Dave's Ministry Hosts
Rock On The Rock
Christian Music Festivals With
Well Know Music
Artists
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It was the
Thursday before the music event and Pastor Dave was
giving Nathaniel Partee, 47, a ride to a scheduled
appointment at a detox center, a place that would
help Nathaniel stay off of his addiction. A short
distance on route, he stopped at a Burger King to get
something to eat for the both of them. He went through
the drive-through. While waiting
for their fish sandwiches in a parking space close to
the building, Pastor Dave saw two teen boys skating in
the parking lot. Thinking about the event that
was just a little over a day away, Pastor
Dave called out the window, "Hey kids, come here."
He wanted to
tell them about Jesus and invite them to the event.
The boys, one thirteen-and-a-half, the
other turning fourteen that month, did not go over
to the truck. They instead called the
police.
A police report shows that
officers were dispatched on a call for a white man and
black man trying to coerce two juvenile males into a
truck. The Gazette, a local paper, reported
one of the teens as having said, "I was not going to go
up to the truck. We were thinking, I don't know, like
they were going to try to get some information from us,
try and get us into the car, and that's why we kept
walking." The police report states that the
boys said the driver of the truck yelled out the window,
"Hey kids, come over here, I want to talk to you." The
Wisconsin Christian News reported that the police said
the boys reported that the men were trying to abduct
them, but later changed their story.
The police
report states that the boys claimed Pastor Dave
addressed them twice; Pastor Dave says he only addressed
them once, which doesn't matter either way. It is no
more illegal to have addressed the boys twice, than
once.
If The Truck Doesn't
Fit...
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Pastor Dave who was a Beloit,
Wisconsin Police Chaplain for twelve
years is pictured here with Nathaniel Partee,
standing next to the small Toyota pickup less than
an hour before the
arrests.
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The truck that the two men were
in is a small Toyota. The cab fits only two people
in it, hence it could not have been possible to abduct
two teen boys in the vehicle. The first officer on
the scene who was also the arresting officer
(officer Blaser) states in the police report that
upon entering the parking lot he saw the white truck
pulling out. Officer Blaser also states in the
report that the two men were sitting in a "small cab of
a pickup next to each other."
According
to officer Blaser's report, his contact with
the boys prior to his contact with Pastor Dave consisted
of the boys pointing at the white pick-up truck, officer
Blaser pointing at the white pick-up truck, officer
Blaser asking the boys if that was it, and the
boys saying "yes." –Hey, you just cannot
make this stuff up. It's on page one of officer
Blaser's report.
After the two men
had finished eating their sandwiches, they
had headed out of the parking lot and down the
road. Within three blocks the men were pulled over.
According to the police report, Pastor Dave was
questioned, arrested, patted down,
arrested for resisting the first
arrest, put into a "compliance hold" by two
officers and then into hand-cuffs
all within approximately four minutes of
having been pulled over. The third officer on the scene
states in the police report that he got there
approximately four minutes after the arresting officer
got there and saw officers Blaser and Johnson (the
second officer on the scene) putting Pastor Dave into
handcuffs. Officer Blaser's report confirms the two
arrests, the patting down, the compliance hold, and the
handcuffing. Pastor Dave said that he was arrested for
disorderly conduct and for resisting.
While
speaking with Pastor Dave, he told me that he
was not told until that next Monday why he was
arrested for disorderly conduct. He was
told that it was because he talked to the boys. He
also said to me that he was not resisting, but that
he was just asking why it was happening and that he was
in shock by it all. In so many words, he said that he
was treated badly. He also said that he almost fell
over when he was leaning up against the
truck, with his legs spread, being patted down, and
the officer grabbed his hands to put him in handcuffs.
He lost his footing. And he was very
uncomfortable with the search that went in a place
that is private. –The officer
stated in the report that Pastor Dave jumped
at that point.
To Tell The
Truth...
Officer Blaser has
since claimed that he had not arrested Pastor Dave
for disorderly conduct until after the teens had
been questioned by the third officer on the scene,
officer Katzenmeyer, the officer who showed up on the
scene when Pastor Dave was being placed
in handcuffs. Officer Johnson's report suggests
such, as well. I suppose officer Blaser would be in
big trouble if he had placed a man under
arrest for disorderly conduct on the grounds of a
pointing game and or the dispatcher's
hearsay.
However, according to
officer Blaser's own words in the police report, he
placed Pastor Dave under arrest for something
before he placed him under arrest for resisting. On
page four of his report, in giving the "probable
cause" for "resisting an officer," officer Blaser
states, "As I told him he was under
arrest, he continually tried to pull his hands
in front of him, thus resisting arrest.
He knew he was being placed
under arrest and knowingly
resisted that
arrest."
Officer
Johnson's statement even goes one step further
by showing officer Blaser as having not arrested
Pastor Dave for resisting until after officer
Katzenmeyer had spoken with the teens, which took place
well after Pastor Dave was put into handcuffs. Officer
Blaser's report is very clear that he arrested Pastor
Dave for resisting before Pastor Dave was put into
handcuffs. Officer Johnson may want to rethink his
statement.
Later the second arrest,
"resisting" was changed by the district attorney to
"obstruction." Perhaps calling it obstruction is a
way to seek to define the word "resisting" as meaning
"resisting an officer from doing his duty" instead of
what it clearly meant, "resisting an arrest," an arrest
that came before talking to the accusers. I believe such
would be called a "false arrest" in civil
court.
What Was The
Problem...
The police report speaks of
two men having been suspects, a white man and a black
man. Yet when pulled over, it appears that only the
white man was treated as a suspect. Other than the color
of their skin, the only immediate difference that
could have been seen would have been that the
white man had a shirt on that said, "Jesus is
Eternal."
Officer Blaser makes out in his
report that he was very courteous and patient
with Pastor Dave, only doing that, which he absolutely
had to do, stating things like he had "advised" Pastor
Dave that he "would like" to pat him down for weapons,
and that at one point he was advising Pastor Dave that
he was being as "polite" as he could be. He does
this while he makes out that Pastor Dave was so
uncooperative that it deemed all he did to Pastor Dave.
Interestingly enough, after he finished with Pastor
Dave, he simply questioned Mr. Partee and told him
that he was not under arrest. Perhaps the
officer was pooped out by that time, or perhaps he had
no need to go after Mr. Partee.
Officer Blaser's
report claims that Pastor Dave was not "comfortable"
answering his questions and that Pastor Dave was
"evasive." Pastor Dave states that he did answer officer
Blaser's questions. He said that he told officer Blaser
that he had talked to two teens, that he just wanted to
tell them about Jesus and to invite them to a concert
that they were having. Pastor Dave said that
he told this to officer Blaser right away when he
had been asked if he had talked to anyone at Burger
King.
Pastor Dave's answers were supported
by Nathaniel Partee's answers when he was
questioned. And his answers were also
supported by the fact that the weekend music
event really did take place. Nathaniel also
told officer Blaser that Pastor Dave was giving him a
ride to the detox center, which also proved to be true.
It was actually the third officer on the scene, officer
Katezenmeyer that drove Mr. Partee the rest of
the way to the detox center.
The police
had two extra IDs by which to identifiy Pastor Dave
with, two besides his driver's license. They had
his fishing license and his pastor membership
card. However, officer Blaser's
statement about the pocketknife
that was found during a search of Pastor Dave's
person was that it "could" be "considered" a
"weapon." I suppose the obvious, that he had a preacher
who liked to go fishing and used a pocket knife for when
he caught something would have just not been as exciting
as finding what "could" have been "considered" a
"weapon!"
Officer Blaser even went as far in the
report as to make out that he felt that Pastor Dave was
going to make a run for it. Yes, officer Blaser stated,
"He was looking around as if he was looking for some
place to go. The vehicle was still in gear and the
ignition was still running."
The truck was a
standard, a four on the floor, with no markings on
the stick shift that was in-between the two
men. So, how on earth would the officer have known if it
was in gear? Interestingly enough, the second officer on
the scene, officer Johnson had the same vision; he also
said that the vehicle was in gear. Oh, but this gets
better. Six sentences later in the same paragraph, in
the same report, the same arresting officer states, "I
was concerned that he may put the vehicle in gear, as I
had already asked him to step out of the vehicle to talk
to him."
One really does have to ask one's self
why officer Blaser's report reads like a defense of
officer Blaser. And one really should ask why when the
dispatch went out as two men trying to coerce two teen
males into a truck and the police report listed two
men as suspects, why was just one man treated as such.
Nathaniel Partee was never patted down. The second
officer was helping the first officer with Pastor Dave
while Nathaniel Partee was unattended. Why does it
appear the two officers were not
concerned about the passenger of the
truck while they were both handling the
driver?
Debra...
www.InformingChristians.com
© Copyright 2009 Debra J.M.
Smith
Up-Date:
First
Pastor David Fogderud was wrongly arrested and
charged with "Disorderly Conduct" for having addressed
to teenagers in a parking lot, as part of his ministry.
Then he was wrongly arrested and charged with
"Resisting" the first arrest. Later the district
attorney changed the second charge from "Resisting" to
"Obstruction." This is the short version.
At one
point in the case, the district attorney offered to
drop the obstruction charge if Pastor Dave would have
pleaded guilty to the disorderly conduct charge. That
did not fly, as Pastor Dave was not about to plead
guilty to such a horrendous charge.
So,
what did the district attorney do? Well,
within a week of the trial she flipped it around.
She dropped the disorderly conduct charge and went with
the obstruction charge. I guess they get to pick and
choose these things like candy in a candy store.
And we wonder why so many people do not agree with the
judicial system in this country.
The district
attorney obviously realized that in the United States of
America, speaking to two teen boys did not constitute
disorderly conduct. She admitted, in so many
words, on April 27, 2009 during Pastor
Dave's trial in her opening statement that he
had not done anything wrong towards the
teens.
The obstruction trial, that
in essence, turned out to be Pastor Dave on
trial for his own arrest, came down to his word
against three cops. Who do you think won? Keeping in
mind the theatrics that can go on in such a trial,
I don't think it is hard to figure out the answer to
that question.
But the good news is, Pastor Dave
was vindicated of doing anything wrong towards the two
teenagers. Clearly the district attorney
new she could not get the jury to believe that
one
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A Message From Pastor
Dave
April 29,
2009
April
29, 2009
Dear
Friends:
The
trial started Monday of this week and ended
yesterday with the Jury giving their verdict at
4:00 p.m. The good news is that the
"Disorderly Conduct" charge was dropped on last
Friday 4/24/09. That was very important to
me because that is the charge that dealt with
speaking to the teenagers. The bad
news is that the Jury found me "guilty" of
obstructing an officer. The DA told the jury
that I had been uncooperative with the police at
the scene and that I had refused to give my
name. The truth is that the police
officers testified that they had neglected to ask
for my Drivers License or to ask me who I
was. The DA further instructed the jurors
that they should give no credit to the testimony
of my character witnesses - that even Hitler
and Osama bin Laden could find someone to say
something good about them. Among my
Character witnesses were Rev. Don Lyon, Founding
Pastor of FAITH Center in Rockford, Illinois and
the Illinois Representative for the National
Association of Evangelicals among many other
credentials. Also, I had Danny Evans who is
a Pastor and a Juvenile Probation Officer in Rock
County and Heather Devlin, a 19-year-old
girl who got saved through our ministry and first
met me at the age of 14 when I gave her a flyer
and invited her to a Christian concert.
Stories appear in today's Beloit
Daily News, The Janesville Gazette and the
Wisconsin State Journal. Probably the
best report is done by the reporter from
up-state New York named Debra JM Smith. The
links to the articles
are:
http://www.beloitdailynews.com/articles/2009/04/29/news/top_news/news2902.txt
http://www.madison.com/wsj/topstories/449070
http://www.gazettextra.com/
http://gazettextra.com/weblogs/latest-news/2009/apr/28/beloit-pastor-convicted-obstructing-after-trial/
http://www.debrajmsmith.com/pastordave.html
http://www.WisconsinChristianNews.com
I invite your continued prayer
support. I have asked the Lord to
help me portray a Christ-like attitude and show
the Love of Jesus regarding those who have falsely
accused me. I intend to look into the
possibility of an Appeal but know that it cost
more money and I still owe my attorney
$1000. I would like to see justice done even
though, by the Grace of God, I can handle
opposition when my intentions were pure.
Forgive me if I feel somewhat persecuted. I
invite you to read with me from I Peter 4:12-16
and I will continue to tell people about Jesus and
about how much He loves them. I will
continue to have as my favorite verse Romans
1:16 which says that "I am NOT ashamed of the
Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to
salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew
first and also for the Greek." May God Bless
You all!
Love
in Christ,
Pastor
Dave
www.overflowingcup.org |
Donations for Pastor Dave's legal
assistance can be given at:
http://www.overflowingcup.org/donate.htm
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The Overflowing Cup
Total Life Center
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Any money left over will go
towards this year's Rock On The Rock music
festival.
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The
following info was provided by, The Overflowing
Cup Total Life Center:
The
Overflowing Cup started as a Coffeehouse on April
19, 1974, next to Domenico's Pizza at 534 East
Grand Avenue in downtown Beloit. Since 1974 more
than 1000 different groups have performed at The
Overflowing Cup. This includes local artists such
as Jeff Coan, Tom Mathy, John Reints, The Richmond
Brothers and a young Christian Rock Group called
PROPHET. In addition to local artists, many
nationally known artists played at The Overflowing
Cup including Resurrection Band, REZ Band, Glenn
Kaiser Blues Band, John Michael Talbot, GLAD,
Servant, Soul Purpose, Randy Matthews (sometimes
called the Grandfather of Christian Rock 'n Roll),
Terry Talbot and MASON PROFIT, Bob Bennett, Saved
By Grace, Randy Stonehill and many more.
There was no generation gap at the height
of it's popularity. The Coffee House was a popular
hangout for young and old alike to gather in the
'70s and '80s. People came from far and near to
enjoy a night of wholesome activities including
concerts, movies and "open" nights when amateurs
and local talented artists would share the stage.
Many have dedicated their lives to Christ and some
have gone into full-time Christian service around
the world. Others, who were teen-agers in the '70s
have come back to serve on the staff of the
ministry. www.OverflowingCup.org
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© Debra J.M.
Smith
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